Sample records for optical noiseless amplifier

Two identical amplifying quantum optical taps, based on noiselessoptical parametric amplification and twin beam quantum correlation, have been implemented in a series configuration and experimentally investigated. The result is an optical bus which we have shown to be robust with respect to downstream losses. {copyright} {ital 1996} {ital The American Physical Society}

Linear amplifiers are necessarily affected by a minimal amount of noise, which is needed in order to preserve the linearity and the unitarity prescribed by quantum mechanics. Such a limitation might be partially overcome if the process is realized by conditioning its operation on a trigger event, for instance, the result of a measurement. Here we present a detailed analysis of a noiselessamplifier, implemented using linear optics, a down-conversion-based single-photon source, and single-photon detection. Our results demonstrate an amplification adding a level of noise lower than the minimum allowed by quantum mechanics for deterministic amplifiers. This is made possible by the nondeterministic character of our device, whose success rate is sufficiently low not to violate any fundamental limit. We compare our experimental data to a model taking into account the main imperfections of the setup and find a good agreement.

We develop a dynamical model to describe the operation of the nondeterministic noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) in the regime of continuous-mode inputs. We analyze the dynamics conditioned on the detection of photons and show that the amplification gain depends on detection times and on the temporal profile of the input state and the auxiliary single-photon state required by the NLA. We also show that the output amplified state inherits the pulse shape of the ancilla photon.

A degenerate parametric amplifier transforms an incident coherent state by amplifying one of its quadrature components while deamplifying the other. This transformation, when performed by an ideal parametric amplifier, is completely deterministic and reversible; therefore the amplifier in principle can be noiseless. We attempt to realize a noiselessamplifier of this type at microwave frequencies with a Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA). To this end, we have built a superconducting microwave cavity containing many dc-SQUIDs. This arrangement creates a non-linear medium in a cavity and it is closely analogous to an optical parametric amplifier. In my talk, I will describe the current performance of this circuit, where I show I can amplify signals with less added noise than a quantum-limited amplifier that amplifies both quadratures. In addition, the JPA also squeezes the electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations by 10 dB. Finally, I will discuss our effort to put two such amplifiers in series in order to undo the first stage of squeezing with a second stage of amplification, demonstrating that the amplification process is truly reversible.[4pt] M. A. Castellanos-Beltran, K. D. Irwin, G. C. Hilton, L. R. Vale and K. W. Lehnert, Nature Physics, published on line, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys1090 (2008).

We demonstrate that a phase-insensitive parametric amplifier, when coupled to a quantum correlated source, can be used as a quantum information tap for noiseless three-way signal splitting. We find that the output signals are amplifiednoiselessly in two of the three output ports, while the other can more or less keep its original input size without adding noise. This scheme can be cascaded and scaled up for efficient information distribution in an optical network. Furthermore, we find that this scheme satisfies the criteria for a nonideal quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement and thus can serve as a QND measurement device. With two readouts correlated to the input, we find this scheme also satisfies the criterion for a sequential QND measurement.

We show that the maximum transmission distance of continuous-variable quantum key distribution in presence of a Gaussian noisy lossy channel can be arbitrarily increased using a heralded noiseless linear amplifier. We explicitly consider a protocol using amplitude and phase modulated coherent states with reverse reconciliation. Assuming that the secret key rate drops to zero for a line transmittance T{sub lim}, we find that a noiselessamplifier with amplitude gain g can improve this value to T{sub lim}/g{sup 2}, corresponding to an increase in distance proportional to log g. We also show that the tolerance against noise is increased.

We show the successful use of a heralded noiseless linear amplifier on the detection stage in the two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution to improve the performance. Due to the excess noise, the secret-key rate of the two-way protocol becomes negative for a certain distance of transmission. The use of a heralded noiseless linear amplifier increases this distance by the equivalent of 20 log10 g dB of losses, and it also helps the two-way protocol tolerate more excess noise.

We propose a modified no-switching continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol by employing a practical noiseless linear amplifier at the receiver to increase the maximal transmission distance and tolerable excess noise. A security analysis is presented to derive the secure bound of the protocol in presence of a Gaussian noisy lossy channel. Simulation results show that the modified protocol can not only transmit longer distance and tolerate more channel excess noise than the original protocol, but also distribute more secure keys in the enhanced region where we define a critical point to separate the enhanced and degenerative region. This critical point presents the condition of using a practical noiseless linear amplifier in the no-switching continuous-variable quantum cryptography, which is meaningful and instructive to implement a practical experiment.

We characterize the efficiency of the practical continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) while inserting the heralded noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) before detectors to increase the secret key rate and the maximum transmission distance in Gaussian channels. In the heralded NLA-based CVQKD system, the entanglement source is only placed in the middle while the two participants are unnecessary to trust their source. The intensities of source noise are sensitive to the tunable NLA with the parameter g in a suitable range and can be stabilized to the suitable constant values to eliminate the impact of channel noise and defeat the potential attacks. Simulation results show that there is a well balance between the secret key rate and the maximum transmission distance with the tunable NLA.

A compact, low-threshold, multipass optical parametric amplifier has been developed for the conversion of short-pulse (360-ps) 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser radiation into eye-safe 1572-nm radiation for laser ranging and radar applications. The amplifier had a threshold pump power of as low as 45{mu}J, and at three to four times this threshold pump power the amplifier converted 30{percent} of the input 1064-nm radiation into 1572-nm output radiation. {copyright} {ital 1996 Optical Society of America.}

All-optical signal processing is the focus of much research aiming to obtain effective alternatives to existing data transmission platforms. Amplification of light in fiber optics, such as in Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, is especially important for efficient signal transmission. However, the complex fabrication methods involving high-temperature processes performed in a highly pure environment slow the fabrication process and make amplified components expensive with respect to an ideal, high-throughput, room temperature production. Here, we report on near-infrared polymer fiber amplifiers working over a band of ∼20 nm. The fibers are cheap, spun with a process entirely carried out at room temperature, and shown to have amplified spontaneous emission with good gain coefficients and low levels of optical losses (a few cm–1). The amplification process is favored by high fiber quality and low self-absorption. The found performance metrics appear to be suitable for short-distance operations, and the large variety of commercially available doping dyes might allow for effective multiwavelength operations by electrospun amplified fiber optics. PMID:25710188

We describe an open multipass opticalamplifier designed to amplify a sampled region of an optical wavefront to kilowatt average power with low optical phase distortion. The overall goal is to amplifyoptical fields in a segmented, but phase coherent manner, so as to achieve high average power optical fields with high quality phase coherence over the large apertures needed for transmission of space solar power.

Entanglement distillation is an indispensable ingredient in extended quantum communication networks. Distillation protocols are necessarily non-deterministic and require advanced experimental techniques such as noiseless amplification. Recently, it was shown that the benefits of noiseless amplification could be extracted by performing a post-selective filtering of the measurement record to improve the performance of quantum key distribution. We apply this protocol to entanglement degraded by transmission loss of up to the equivalent of 100 km of optical fibre. We measure an effective entangled resource stronger than that achievable by even a maximally entangled resource passively transmitted through the same channel. We also provide a proof-of-principle demonstration of secret key extraction from an otherwise insecure regime. The measurement-based noiseless linear amplifier offers two advantages over its physical counterpart: ease of implementation and near-optimal probability of success. It should provide an effective and versatile tool for a broad class of entanglement-based quantum communication protocols.

We describe an opticalamplifier designed to amplify a spatially sampled component of an optical wavefront to kilowatt average power. The goal is means for implementing a strategy of spatially segmenting a large aperture wavefront, amplifying the individual segments, maintaining the phase coherence of the segments by active means, and imaging the resultant amplified coherent field. Applications of interest are the transmission of space solar power over multi-megameter distances, as to distant spacecraft, or to remote sites with no preexisting power grid.

Fiber-optic switching systems typically exhibit large losses associated with splitting and combining of the optical power, and with excess component losses. These losses increase quickly with switch size. To obtain acceptable signal-to-noise performance through large optical switching, opticalamplifiers can be used. In applications requiring optical switching, semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) are preferred over erbium-doped fiber amplifiers due to their fast switching speeds and the possibility of their integration in monolithic structures with passive waveguides and electronics. We present a general analysis of optical switching systems utilizing SOAs. These systems, in which the gain provided by SOAs is distributed throughout the optical system, are referred to as distributed optical gain (DOG) systems. Our model predicts the performance and achievable sizes of switches based on the matrix-vector multiplier crossbar and Benes network. It is found that for realistic SOA parameters optical switches accommodating extremely large numbers of nodes are, in principle, achievable.

We examine application of optical amplification to coherent lidar for the case of a weak return signal (a number of quanta of the return optical field close to unity). We consider the option that has been explored to date, namely, incorporation of an opticalamplifier operated in a linear manner located after reception of the signal and immediately prior to heterodyning and photodetection. We also consider alternative strategies where the coherent interaction, the nonlinear processes, and the amplification are not necessarily constrained to occur in the manner investigated to date. We include the complications that occur because of mechanisms that occur at the level of a few, or one, quantum excitation. Two factors combine in the work to date that limit the value of the approach. These are: (1) the weak signal tends to require operation of the amplifier in the linear regime where the important advantages of nonlinear optical processing are not accessed, (2) the linear opticalamplifier has a -3dB noise figure (SN(out)/SN(in)) that necessarily degrades the signal. Some improvement is gained because the gain provided by the opticalamplifier can be used to overcome losses in the heterodyned process and photodetection. The result, however, is that introduction of an opticalamplifier in a well optimized coherent lidar system results in, at best, a modest improvement in signal to noise. Some improvement may also be realized on incorporating more optical components in a coherent lidar system for purely practical reasons. For example, more compact, lighter weight, components, more robust alignment, or more rapid processing may be gained. We further find that there remain a number of potentially valuable, but unexplored options offered both by the rapidly expanding base of optical technology and the recent investigation of novel nonlinear coherent interference phenomena occurring at the single quantum excitation level. Key findings are: (1) insertion of linear optical

Phase-sensitive amplification is of great research interest owing to its potential in noiseless amplification. One key feature in a phase-sensitive amplifier is the gain extinction ratio defined as the ratio of the maximum to the minimum gains. It quantifies the capability of the amplifier in performing low-noise amplification for high phase-sensitive gain. Considering a phase-sensitive fibre optical parametric amplifier for linear amplification, the gain extinction ratio increases with the phase-insensitive parametric gain achieved from the same pump. In this work, we use backward Raman amplification to increase the phase-insensitive parametric gain, which in turn improves the phase-sensitive operation. Using a 955 mW Raman pump, the gain extinction ratio is increased by 9.2 dB. The improvement in the maximum phase-sensitive gain is 18.7 dB. This scheme can significantly boost the performance of phase-sensitive amplification in a spectral range where the parametric pump is not sufficiently strong but broadband Raman amplification is available.

Phase-sensitive amplification is of great research interest owing to its potential in noiseless amplification. One key feature in a phase-sensitive amplifier is the gain extinction ratio defined as the ratio of the maximum to the minimum gains. It quantifies the capability of the amplifier in performing low-noise amplification for high phase-sensitive gain. Considering a phase-sensitive fibre optical parametric amplifier for linear amplification, the gain extinction ratio increases with the phase-insensitive parametric gain achieved from the same pump. In this work, we use backward Raman amplification to increase the phase-insensitive parametric gain, which in turn improves the phase-sensitive operation. Using a 955 mW Raman pump, the gain extinction ratio is increased by 9.2 dB. The improvement in the maximum phase-sensitive gain is 18.7 dB. This scheme can significantly boost the performance of phase-sensitive amplification in a spectral range where the parametric pump is not sufficiently strong but broadband Raman amplification is available. PMID:26830136

Semiconductor opticalamplifiers are important for wide range of applications in optical networks, optical tomography and optical logic systems. For many of these applications particularly for optical networks and optical logic, high speed performance of the SOA is important. All optical Boolean operations such as XOR, OR, AND and NOR has been demonstrated using SOA based Mach-Zhender interferometers (SOA-MZI). A rate equation model for SOA-MZI has been developed. The model has been used to analyze the Set-Reset (S-R) latch, the gated S-R latch and the D-Flip-Flop devices. The modeling results suggest that the Flip-Flop circuits should work at high speeds. An optical pseudo-random bit stream (PRBS) generator is important for all-optical encryption circuits. A model of a PRBS generator using SOAMZI based devices has been developed. We show that a PRBS generator can work @ 80 Gb/s using regular SOAs and @ ~ 250 Gb/s or at higher speeds using two-photon absorption based processes in SOAs.

A system provides an input pump pulse and a signal pulse. A first dichroic beamsplitter is highly reflective for the input signal pulse and highly transmissive for the input pump pulse. A first optical parametric amplifier nonlinear crystal transfers part of the energy from the input pump pulse to the input signal pulse resulting in a first amplified signal pulse and a first depleted pump pulse. A second dichroic beamsplitter is highly reflective for the first amplified signal pulse and highly transmissive for the first depleted pump pulse. A second optical parametric amplifier nonlinear crystal transfers part of the energy from the first depleted pump pulse to the first amplified signal pulse resulting in a second amplified signal pulse and a second depleted pump pulse. A third dichroic beamsplitter receives the second amplified signal pulse and the second depleted pump pulse. The second depleted pump pulse is discarded.

Historically, the first demonstration of the optical FEL was in an amplifier configuration at Stanford University [l]. There were other notable instances of amplifying a seed laser, such as the LLNL PALADIN amplifier [2] and the BNL ATF High-Gain Harmonic Generation FEL [3]. However, for the most part FELs are operated as oscillators or self amplified spontaneous emission devices. Yet, in wavelength regimes where a conventional laser seed can be used, the FEL can be used as an amplifier. One promising application is for very high average power generation, for instance FEL's with average power of 100 kW or more. The high electron beam power, high brightness and high efficiency that can be achieved with photoinjectors and superconducting Energy Recovery Linacs (ERL) combine well with the high-gain FEL amplifier to produce unprecedented average power FELs. This combination has a number of advantages. In particular, we show that for a given FEL power, an FEL amplifier can introduce lower energy spread in the beam as compared to a traditional oscillator. This properly gives the ERL based FEL amplifier a great wall-plug to optical power efficiency advantage. The optics for an amplifier is simple and compact. In addition to the general features of the high average power FEL amplifier, we will look at a 100 kW class FEL amplifier is being designed to operate on the 0.5 ampere Energy Recovery Linac which is under construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Collider-Accelerator Department.

Opticalamplifiers are essential devices for optical networks, optical systems, and computer communications. These amplifiers compensate for the inevitable optical loss in long-distance propagation (>50 km) or splitting (>10x). Fiber amplifiers such as the erbium-doped fiber amplifier have revolutionized the fiber-optics industry and are enjoying widespread use. Semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) are an alternative technology that complements the fiber amplifiers in cost and performance. One obstacle to the widespread use of SOAs is the severity of the inevitable noise output resulting from amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). Spectral filtering is often used to reduce ASE noise, but this constrains the source spectrally, and improvement is typically limited to about 10 dB. The extra components also add cost and complexity to the final assembly. The goal of this project was to analyze, design, and take significant steps toward the realization of an innovative, low-noise SOA based on the concept of ''distributed spatial filtering'' (DSF). In DSF, we alternate active SOA segments with passive free-space diffraction regions. Since spontaneous emission radiates equally in all directions, the free-space region lengthens the amplifier for a given length of gain region, narrowing the solid angle into which the spontaneous emission is amplified [1,2]. Our innovation is to use spatial filtering in a differential manner across many segments, thereby enhancing the effect when wave-optical effects are included [3]. The structure quickly and effectively strips the ASE into the higher-order modes, quenching the ASE gain relative to the signal.

Analytical relations are obtained between characteristics of modulated light at the output and input of an optical diode power amplifier operating in the highly saturated gain regime. It is shown that a diode amplifier may act as an amplitude-to-phase modulation converter with a rather large bandwidth (∼10 GHz). The low sensitivity of the output power of the amplifier to the input beam power and its high energy efficiency allow it to be used as a building block of a high-power multielement laser system with coherent summation of a large number of optical beams. (lasers)

An optical fiber is described, which comprises: a substantially single-mode core having an index of refraction n/sub 1/ comprised of laser material disposed within a multi-mode cladding having an index of refraction n/sub 2/; and a further cladding having an index of refraction n/sub 3/ surrounding the multi-mode cladding with substantially no space between the further cladding and the multi-mode cladding; wherein the single-mode core is disposed at an offset from the geometric center of the multi-mode cladding.

Not Available Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos U1304613, 11204197, 11204379 and 11074244, the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2011CBA00200, and the Doctor Science Research Foundation from the Ministry of Education of China under Grant No 20113402110059.

A self amplifyingoptical pattern recognizer includes a geometric system configuration similar to that of a Vander Lugt holographic matched filter configuration with a photorefractive crystal specifically oriented with respect to the input beams. An extraordinarily polarized, spherically converging object image beam is formed by laser illumination of an input object image and applied through a photorefractive crystal, such as a barium titanite (BaTiO.sub.3) crystal. A volume or thin-film dif ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION The invention described herein was made in the performance of work under a NASA contract, and is subject to the provisions of Public Law 96-517 (35 USC 202) in which the Contractor has elected to retain title.

Report discusses application of noiseless data-compression coding to digitized readings of spaceborne magnetometers for transmission back to Earth. Objective of such coding to increase efficiency by decreasing rate of transmission without sacrificing integrity of data. Adaptive coding compresses data by factors ranging from 2 to 6.

Amplification of signal intensity is essential for initiating physical processes, diagnostics, sensing, communications and measurement. During traditional amplification, the signal is amplified by multiplying the signal carriers through an active gain process, requiring the use of an external power source. In addition, the signal is degraded by noise and distortions that typically accompany active gain processes. We show noiseless intensity amplification of repetitive optical pulse waveforms with gain from 2 to ~20 without using active gain. The proposed method uses a dispersion-induced temporal self-imaging (Talbot) effect to redistribute and coherently accumulate energy of the original repetitive waveforms into fewer replica waveforms. In addition, we show how our passive amplifier performs a real-time average of the wave-train to reduce its original noise fluctuation, as well as enhances the extinction ratio of pulses to stand above the noise floor. Our technique is applicable to repetitive waveforms in any spectral region or wave system. PMID:25319207

Entanglement distillation is an indispensable ingredient in extended quantum communication networks. Distillation protocols are necessarily non-deterministic and require non-trivial experimental techniques such as noiseless amplification. We show that noiseless amplification could be achieved by performing a post-selective filtering of measurement outcomes. We termed this protocol measurement-based noiseless linear amplification (MBNLA). We apply this protocol to entanglement that suffers transmission loss of up to the equivalent of 100km of optical fibre and show that it is capable of distilling entanglement to a level stronger than that achievable by transmitting a maximally entangled state through the same channel. We also provide a proof-of-principle demonstration of secret key extraction from an otherwise insecure regime via MBNLA. Compared to its physical counterpart, MBNLA not only is easier in term of implementation, but also allows one to achieve near optimal probability of success.

The prospects for using fiber optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) in optical communication systems are reviewed. Phase-insensitive amplifiers (PIAs) and phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) are considered. Low-penalty amplification at/or near 1 Tb/s has been achieved, for both wavelength- and time-division multiplexed formats. High-quality mid-span spectral inversion has been demonstrated at 0.64 Tb/s, avoiding electronic dispersion compensation. All-optical amplitude regeneration of amplitude-modulated signals has been performed, while PSAs have been used to demonstrate phase regeneration of phase-modulated signals. A PSA with 1.1-dB noise figure has been demonstrated, and preliminary wavelength-division multiplexing experiments have been performed with PSAs. 512 Gb/s have been transmitted over 6,000 km by periodic phase conjugation. Simulations indicate that PIAs could reach data rate x reach products in excess of 14,000 Tb/s × km in realistic wavelength-division multiplexed long-haul networks. Technical challenges remaining to be addressed in order for fiber OPAs to become useful for long-haul communication networks are discussed. PMID:25866588

A scheme to generate the stationary entanglement of two distant coupled optical cavities placed optical parametric amplifiers is proposed. We study how the optical parametric amplifiers can affect the entanglement behaviors of the movable mirrors and the cavity fields. With the existence of optical parametric amplifiers, we show that larger stationary entanglement of optical and mechanical modes can be obtained and the entanglement increases with the increasing parametric gain. Especially, the degree of entanglement between the two cavity fields is more pronouncedly enhanced. Moreover, for a fixed parametric gain, the entanglement of distant cavity optomechanical systems increases as the input laser power is increased.

A scheme to generate the stationary entanglement of two distant coupled optical cavities placed optical parametric amplifiers is proposed. We study how the optical parametric amplifiers can affect the entanglement behaviors of the movable mirrors and the cavity fields. With the existence of optical parametric amplifiers, we show that larger stationary entanglement of optical and mechanical modes can be obtained and the entanglement increases with the increasing parametric gain. Especially, the degree of entanglement between the two cavity fields is more pronouncedly enhanced. Moreover, for a fixed parametric gain, the entanglement of distant cavity optomechanical systems increases as the input laser power is increased.

A system for detecting objects in a turbid media utilizes an optical parametric amplifier as an amplifying gate for received light from the media. An optical gating pulse from a second parametric amplifier permits the system to respond to and amplify only ballistic photons from the object in the media.

A system for detecting objects in a turbid media utilizes an optical parametric amplifier as an amplifying gate for received light from the media. An optical gating pulse from a second parametric amplifier permits the system to respond to and amplify only ballistic photons from the object in the media. 13 figs.

An opticalamplifier having a uniform gain profile uses a photonic crystal to tune the density-of-states of a gain medium so as to modify the light emission rate between atomic states. The density-of-states of the gain medium is tuned by selecting the size, shape, dielectric constant, and spacing of a plurality of microcavity defects in the photonic crystal. The opticalamplifier is particularly useful for the regeneration of DWDM signals in long optical fibers.

A low-noise opticalamplifier solves crosstalk problems in opticalamplifiers by using an optical cavity oriented off-axis (e.g. perpendicular) to the direction of a signal amplified by the gain medium of the opticalamplifier. Several devices are used to suppress parasitic lasing of these types of structures. The parasitic lasing causes the gain of these structures to be practically unusable. The lasing cavity is operated above threshold and the gain of the laser is clamped to overcome the losses of the cavity. Any increase in pumping causes the lasing power to increase. The clamping action of the gain greatly reduces crosstalk due to gain saturation for the amplified signal beam. It also reduces other nonlinearities associated with the gain medium such as four-wave mixing induced crosstalk. This clamping action can occur for a bandwidth defined by the speed of the laser cavity. The lasing field also reduces the response time of the gain medium. By having the lasing field off-axis, no special coatings are needed. Other advantages are that the lasing field is easily separated from the amplified signal and the carrier grating fluctuations induced by four-wave mixing are decreased. Two related methods reduce the amplified spontaneous emission power without sacrificing the gain of the opticalamplifier. 11 figs.

A low-noise opticalamplifier solves crosstalk problems in opticalamplifiers by using an optical cavity oriented off-axis (e.g. perpendicular) to the direction of a signal amplified by the gain medium of the opticalamplifier. Several devices are used to suppress parasitic lasing of these types of structures. The parasitic lasing causes the gain of these structures to be practically unusable. The lasing cavity is operated above threshold and the gain of the laser is clamped to overcome the losses of the cavity. Any increase in pumping causes the lasing power to increase. The clamping action of the gain greatly reduces crosstalk due to gain saturation for the amplified signal beam. It also reduces other nonlinearities associated with the gain medium such as four-wave mixing induced crosstalk. This clamping action can occur for a bandwidth defined by the speed of the laser cavity. The lasing field also reduces the response time of the gain medium. By having the lasing field off-axis, no special coatings are needed. Other advantages are that the lasing field is easily separated from the amplified signal and the carrier grating fluctuations induced by four-wave mixing are decreased. Two related methods reduce the amplified spontaneous emission power without sacrificing the gain of the opticalamplifier.

This work is meant to provide a review of the uses of opticallyamplified networks to resolve the problem of power loss compensation in fiber-optic sensor (FOS) networks. This is a key parameter in large multiplexing networks, particularly when employing intensity-modulated sensors. A brief discussion on the benefits of active networks versus passive structures in terms of the number of multiplexed sensors is provided. In particular, the advantages of distributed optical amplification, both erbium-doped and Raman, in bus architectures are analyzed. Since the inclusion of opticalamplifiers generates a new source of noise, the different proposed topologies have been oriented towards the reduction of this amplification noise.

Amplification characteristics of graded-index (GI) type organic dye doped polymer optical fiber amplifiers (POFAs) are discussed. As an organic dye for optical amplification, Rhodamine 6G, Rhodamine B, and Perylene Red are doped in the core region of polymer optical fibers (POFs). These POFA can obtain optical gain in the visible region of wavelength from 570 nm to 620 nm. POFA is promising for extraordinary high power optical amplification in comparison with rare-earth ions doped silica fiber amplifier. For example, output power of 1 kW with a gain of 30 dB can be obtained by using a Rhodamine B doped POFA at a low dye concentration of 1 ppm. Additionally, a novel solid-state POFA amplifier system is demonstrated.

A remote fiber optic signal amplifier for use as a repeater/amplifier, such as in transoceanic communications, powered by a Pu{sub 238} or Sr{sub 90} thermoelectric generator. The amplifier comprises a unit with connections on the receiving and sending sides of the communications system, and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier connecting each sending fiber to each receiving fiber. The thermoelectric generator, preferably a Pu{sub 238} or Sr{sub 90} thermoelectric generator delivers power to the amplifiers through a regulator. The heat exchange surfaces of the thermoelectric generator are made of materials resistant to corrosion and biological growth and are directly exposed to the outside, such as the ocean water in transoceanic communications. 2 figs.

A remote fiber optic signal amplifier for use as a repeater/amplifier, such as in transoceanic communication, powered by a Pu{sub 238} or Sr{sub 90} thermoelectric generator. The amplifier comprises a unit with connections on the receiving and sending sides of the communications system, and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier connecting each sending fiber to each receiving fiber. The thermoelectric generator, preferably a Pu{sub 238} or Sr{sub 90} thermoelectric generator delivers power to the amplifiers through a regulator. The heat exchange surfaces of the thermoelectric generator are made of material resistant to corrosion and biological growth and are directly exposed to the outside, such as the ocean water in transoceanic communications.

A remote fiber optic signal amplifier for use as a repeater/amplifier, such as in transoceanic communications, powered by a Pu.sub.238 or Sr.sub.90 thermoelectric generator. The amplifier comprises a unit with connections on the receiving and sending sides of the communications system, and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier connecting each sending fiber to each receiving fiber. The thermoelectric generator, preferably a Pu.sub.238 or Sr.sub.90 thermoelectric generator delivers power to the amplifiers through a regulator. The heat exchange surfaces of the thermoelectric generator are made of materials resistant to corrosion and biological growth and are directly exposed to the outside, such as the ocean water in transoceanic communications.

In this letter, we provide the experimental demonstration of nanosecond optical parametric amplification in YCOB centered at 1572 nm. The optical gain characterization of YCOB crystal was simulated and tested in this optical parametric conversion. A saturated OPA gain of 2.4 was obtained. The results confirm that YCOB crystal has the potential to be used in a high-energy cascade of MOPA parametric amplifiers at 1572 nm.

A microwave photonic interference mitigation filter is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The structure is based on a recirculating delay line loop comprising a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) and a tunable narrowband optical filter. Converted signal used as negative tap is generated through wavelength conversion employing cross-gain modulation of amplified spontaneous emission spectrum of the SOA. The converted signal circulating in the RDL loop realizes a high quality factor (Q) response after photo-detection. A bandpass response with negative coefficients combined with a broadband allpass response achieves a notch response with flat passband.

A system for linearly amplifying an optical analog signal by backward stimulated Raman scattering comprises a laser source for generating a pump pulse; and an optic fiber having two opposed apertures, a first aperture for receiving the pump pulse and a second aperture for receiving the optical analog signal, wherein the optical analog signal is linearly amplified to an amplifiedoptical analog signal.

A system for linearly amplifying an optical analog signal by backward stimulated Raman scattering comprises a laser source for generating a pump pulse; and an optic fiber having two opposed apertures, a first aperture for receiving the pump pulse and a second aperture for receiving the optical analog signal, wherein the optical analog signal is linearly amplified to an amplifiedoptical analog signal.

Amplifier and stretcher system, which minimizes thermal effects and compensates for repetition-rate effects, maintains resolution levels in spectrum analysis. An additional inverting amplifier is used in the system to provide a noiseless charge restorer.

The objective was to design a safe optical power beaming system for use in space. Research was focused on identification of strategies and structures that would enable achievement near diffraction limited optical beam quality, highly efficient electrical to optical conversion, and high average power in combination in a single system. Efforts centered on producing high efficiency, low mass of the overall system, low operating temperature, precision pointing and tracking capability, compatibility with useful satellite orbits, component and system reliability, and long component and system life in space. A system based on increasing the power handled by each individual module to an optimum and the number of modules in the complete structure was planned. We were concerned with identifying the most economical and rapid path to commercially viable safe space solar power.

We experimentally demonstrate phase-insensitive linear amplification of a continuous variable system in the optical regime, preserving the ancilla system at the output. Since our amplification operation is unitary up to small excess noise, it is reversible beyond the classical limit. Here, entanglement between the amplified output system and the ancilla system is the resource for the reversibility, and the amplification gain is G=2.0. In addition, combining this amplifier with a beamsplitter, we also demonstrate approximate cloning of coherent states where an anticlone is present. We investigate the reversibility by reconstructing the initial state from the output correlations, and the results are slightly beyond the cloning limit. Furthermore, full characterization of the amplifier and cloner is given by using coherent states with several different mean values as inputs. Our amplifier is based on linear optics, offline-prepared additional ancillas in nonclassical states, and homodyne measurements followed by feedforward. Squeezed states are used as the additional ancillas, and nonlinear optical effects are exploited only for their generation. They introduce nonclassicality into the amplifying operation, making entanglement at the output.

This paper describes the development of a lidar transmitter using an optical parametric amplifier. It is designed for profiling gases of atmospheric interest at high spatial and temporal precision in the near-IR. Discussions on desirable characteristics for such a transmitter with specific reference to the case of CO, are made.

Amplification of broadband radiation of modeless dye laser by a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier based on a KTP crystal has been implemented upon pumping by 63-ps second-harmonic pulses of a Nd : YAG laser. Pulses with a bandwidth of 21 nm, a duration of 26 ps and an energy of 1.2 mJ have been obtained at the centre wavelength of 685 nm. (nonlinear optical phenomena)

Slow light generation through four wave mixing is experimentally investigated in a non-linear semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA). The mechanism of slow-light generation is analyzed through gain saturation behavior of the SOA. The delay of the probe beam is controlled optically by pump-probe detuning. A delay of 260 ps is achieved for sinusoidal modulation at 0.5 GHz corresponding to a RF phase change of 0.26π.

Slow light generation through four wave mixing is experimentally investigated in a non-linear semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA). The mechanism of slow-light generation is analyzed through gain saturation behavior of the SOA. The delay of the probe beam is controlled optically by pump-probe detuning. A delay of 260 ps is achieved for sinusoidal modulation at 0.5 GHz corresponding to a RF phase change of 0.26π.

This thesis explores the use of erbium-doped fiber in lasers, amplified spontaneous emission sources, and amplifiers with particular attention to applications involving fiber sensor technology. Erbium-doped fiber laser output power is shown to be strongly dependent on the erbium dopant concentration in a fiber. Using multiple fibers with various erbium ion concentrations, laser output powers are found to decrease as erbium concentration is increased. Upconversion in paired ions is successfully used to model the lasers, resulting in a better understanding of the loss mechanism involved. Further investigation shows that co-doping an erbium-doped fiber with aluminum helps eliminate upconversion in paired ions, and an optimum ratio of 20 aluminum ions for every erbium ion is established. Upconversion due to paired ions is also used to predict the behavior of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers as a function of the erbium ion concentration. With this knowledge of concentration dependence, a low doped, high output power fiber is chosen for use as an amplified spontaneous emission source in a fiber optic gyroscope. Used as a single pass broadband source in one propagation direction and as a signal amplifier in the other direction, this source is tested experimentally in a high quality fiber gyroscope. Experimental results reveal an unexpected dependence on the polarization states of the optical pump and the gyroscope output signal. A theory of polarization anisotropy in the erbium ions is developed in full and accurately models the experimental observations. Using this model to optimize the source, a fiber gyroscope output stability of 4 parts per million is obtained experimentally, approaching the requirements of inertial navigation. This model is also used to explore novel single polarization amplified spontaneous emission sources. Large scale amplified sensor arrays are examined theoretically to determine component and amplification requirements. For balanced gain and loss

Semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA's) can be used in space-division (SD) switches to provide both switching and optical gain. We present a general analysis of optical switches using SOA's, considering noise and saturation effects associated with amplified spontaneous emission. Based on this analysis, we derive size limitations of SD switches. Three specific SD switching architectures are considered. For a lumped gain matrix vector multiplier (MVM) switch, switch sizes are limited to the range of 3000 x 3000 for SOA's with saturation output powers of 100 mW. Based on the effects considered in our analysis, distributed gain MVM switches and Benes switches are not limited by signal-to noise ratio and saturation up to sizes of 10 exp 80 x 10 exp 80 for SOA's with saturation output powers of 100 mW.

We report on a high repetition rate noncollinear optical parametric amplifier system (NOPA) based on a cavity dumped Ti:Sapphire oscillator providing the signal, and an Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier pumping the device. Temporally synchronized NOPA pump pulses are created via soliton generation in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber. This soliton is fiber amplified to high pulse-energies at high repetition rates. The broadband Ti:Sapphire laser pulses are parametrically amplified either directly or after additional spectral broadening. The approach of fiber-based pump-pulse generation from a femtosecond laser, that emits in the spectral region of NOPA-gain, offers enhanced long-term stability and pulse quality compared to conventional techniques, such as signal pulse generation from a high power laser system via filamentation in bulk media. The presented system produces high-energy ultra-short pulses with pulse-durations down to 15.6 fs and pulse-energies up to 500 nJ at a repetition rate as high as 2 MHz. PMID:19550960

We demonstrate a novel amplifier for femtosecond optical pulses. The output of a colliding-pulse mode-locked laser is amplified to 0.3 microJ per pulse at a repetition rate of 8 kHz by using 1 W of pump power from a copper-vapor laser. Our high-efficiency amplifier focuses the beam for four gain passes through a thin dye stream that uses a Z configuration with matched focusing. Because of low group-velocity dispersion, the output pulses are only slightly broadened, from 63 to 73 fsec, and may be used directly to generate a white-light continuum without pulse compression after amplification. PMID:19767988

We present an experimental demonstration of a practical nondeterministic quantum optical amplification scheme that employs two mature technologies, state comparison and photon subtraction, to achieve amplification of known sets of coherent states with high fidelity. The amplifier uses coherent states as a resource rather than single photons, which allows for a relatively simple light source, such as a diode laser, providing an increased rate of amplification. The amplifier is not restricted to low amplitude states. With respect to the two key parameters, fidelity and the amplified state production rate, we demonstrate significant improvements over previous experimental implementations, without the requirement of complex photonic components. Such a system may form the basis of trusted quantum repeaters in nonentanglement-based quantum communications systems with known phase alphabets, such as quantum key distribution or quantum digital signatures.

Semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA's) are gaining increased prominence in both optical communication systems and high-speed optical processing systems, due primarily to their unique nonlinear characteristics. This in turn, has raised questions regarding their lifetime performance reliability and has generated a demand for effective testing techniques. This is especially critical for industries utilizing SOA's as components for system-in-package products. It is important to note that very little research to date has been conducted in this area, even though production volume and market demand has continued to increase. In this thesis, the reliability of dilute-mode InP semiconductor opticalamplifiers is studied experimentally and theoretically. The aging characteristics of the production level devices are demonstrated and the necessary techniques to accurately characterize them are presented. In addition, this work proposes a new methodology for characterizing the optical performance of these devices using measurements in the electrical domain. It is shown that optical performance degradation, specifically with respect to gain, can be directly qualified through measurements of electrical subthreshold differential resistance. This metric exhibits a linear proportionality to the defect concentration in the active region, and as such, can be used for prescreening devices before employing traditional optical testing methods. A complete theoretical analysis is developed in this work to explain this relationship based upon the device's current-voltage curve and its associated leakage and recombination currents. These results are then extended to realize new techniques for testing semiconductor opticalamplifiers and other similarly structured devices. These techniques can be employed after fabrication and during packaged operation through the use of a proposed stand-alone testing system, or using a proposed integrated CMOS self-testing circuit. Both methods are capable

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The project objective was to develop a praseodymium-based 1.31-{mu}m fiber amplifier that can be optically pumped with off-the-shelf semiconductor diode lasers. Development of opticalamplifiers for the 1.31-{mu}m communications window is motivated by the push towards ``all-optical`` networks that will support multigigabits per second communication rates. Our approach exploited radiationless energy transfer from optically pumped Yb{sup 3+} ions co-doped with Pr{sup 3+} into a fluorozirconate glass (ZBLAN). We obtained a gain of approximately 10 on a 1.31-{mu}m amplifier, a value too low for practical applications. In two spin- off applications, all-solid-state operation at all four output wavelengths was achieved in the development of a four-color visible laser, and laser cooling of a solid material was demonstrated for the first time in the development of a fluorescent cryogenic refrigerator.

We present results from the development of a dual channel Optical Fiber Amplifier (OFA) that consists of two copropagating low noise EDFAs at 1565 and 1545nm. The two channels have separate outputs but can also be combined via an optical switch to a common output channel for an increased output signal power. The OFA produces up to 35dB gain at low signal input powers and a total of over 350mW optical signal power combined from both EDFA channels with a 5mW signal input. The OFA was tested with input signals between 0.1 - 20 mW over the C-band and with pump power varying from 0 - 100% of the maximum operating pump power. The OFA module has total mass of 583 g including all electrical and optical components, as well as optical and electrical bulkheads, and a total module volume of 430 cm3. The module was also radiation tested via gamma irradiation up to 100 krad TID, validating the robustness of the opticalamplifier against RIA effects and its suitability for LEO and GEO satellite missions.

We demonstrate a new and simple solution to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering in fiber optical parametric amplifiers. Cumbersome PRBS or sinusoidal generators used to broaden the pump spectrum are replaced by a filtered microwave noise source. Stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold can be increased up to large values still keeping an excellent quality of amplification of nonreturn to zero signals. The simplicity and the performances of this setup open the way for a wide variety of applications for FOPAs.

We measure the ultrafast optical response of lithographically defined quantum dot amplifiers at 40 K. Recovery of the gain mostly occurs in less than 1 picosecond, with some longer-term transients attributable to carrier heating. Recovery of the absorption proceeds on a much longer timescale, representative of relaxation between quantum dot levels and carrier recombination. We also measure transparency current-density in these devices.

We report on ground and airborne atmospheric methane measurements with a differential absorption lidar using an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). Methane is a strong greenhouse gas on Earth and its accurate global mapping is urgently needed to understand climate change. We are developing a nanosecond-pulsed OPA for remote measurements of methane from an Earth-orbiting satellite. We have successfully demonstrated the detection of methane on the ground and from an airplane at approximately 11-km altitude.

We experimentally demonstrate the noiseless teleportation of a single photon by conditioning on quadrature Bell measurement results near the origin in phase space and thereby circumventing the photon loss that otherwise occurs even in optimal gain-tuned continuous-variable quantum teleportation. In general, thanks to this loss suppression, the noiseless conditional teleportation can preserve the negativity of the Wigner function for an arbitrary pure input state and an arbitrary pure entangled resource state. In our experiment, the positive value of the Wigner function at the origin for the unconditional output state, W(0,0)=0.015±0.001, becomes clearly negative after conditioning, W(0,0)=-0.025±0.005, illustrating the advantage of noiseless conditional teleportation. PMID:25494071

Photonic balancing - a scheme where logically opposite pulses derived from the two outputs of a delay-line demodulator for phase shift keyed (PSK) signals counter-propagate in the saturated regime of a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) - has been proven to enhance the receiver performance, e.g. in terms of decreased optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR) requirements for a given target bit error ratio (BER). Here, we extend the photonic balancing scheme towards a new concept for a regenerative amplifier targeted at extending the reach and/or the number of subscribers in passive optical networks (PON) in order to support major operators' plans to reduce the number of central offices and access areas by approximately 90%. For a given target BER, we demonstrate experimentally (a) an 8-dB higher post-amplifier loss tolerance, (b) an extended feeder line length (75 km) combined with high splitting ratio (10 layers) for a preamplified version, and (c) high input power variation tolerance (> 30 dB burst-to-burst) in upstream direction as needed for highly asymmetric tree structures.

We summarize the principle and experimental setup of optical steganography based on amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise. Using ASE noise as the signal carrier, optical steganography effectively hides a stealth channel in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Coherent detection is used at the receiver of the stealth channel. Because ASE noise has short coherence length and random phase, it only interferes with itself within a very short range. Coherent detection requires the stealth transmitter and stealth receiver to precisely match the optical delay,which generates a large key space for the stealth channel. Several methods to further improve optical steganography, signal to noise ratio, compatibility with the public channel, and applications of the stealth channel are also summarized in this review paper.

A monolithically integrated quantum dot (QD) optical gain modulator (OGM) with a QD semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) was successfully developed. Broadband QD optical gain material was used to achieve Gbps-order high-speed optical data transmission, and an optical gain change as high as approximately 6-7 dB was obtained with a low OGM voltage of 2.0 V. Loss of optical power due to insertion of the device was also effectively compensated for by the SOA section. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the QD-OGM/SOA device helped achieve 6.0-Gbps error-free optical data transmission over a 2.0-km-long photonic crystal fiber. We also successfully demonstrated generation of Gbps-order, high-speed, and error-free optical signals in the >5.5-THz broadband optical frequency bandwidth larger than the C-band. These results suggest that the developed monolithically integrated QD-OGM/SOA device will be an advantageous and compact means of increasing the usable optical frequency channels for short-reach communications.

The Quasi-Optical Gyro Amplifier is a novel device for generating high-frequency, high-power coherent microwave radiation. The authors report a study on a quasi-optical gyro amplifier designed with a periodic mirror structure. A specific design is presented for an amplifier at 95 GHz with an output power level of 100 kW and an efficiency of 30%. The system consists of two sets of parallel mirrors facing each other. A free space Gaussian beam can propagate through the structure in a zigzagged path. An on axis gyrotron beam interacts with the radiation each time it crosses the Gaussian waist. With a beam of 70 kV, 5A and velocity ratio of 1.5, this nonlinear simulation shows that this device can be 16% efficient. With a tapered magnetic field, the efficiency can be increased to 40%. However, studies also show that electron velocity spread significantly reduces the gain. More seriously, bunched electrons considerably change the direction of radiation propagation. These issues need to be addressed in further studies.

A self-amplifiedoptical pattern-recognition technique that utilizes a photorefractive crystal as a real-time volume holographic filter with recording accomplished by means of laser beams of proper polarization and geometric configuration is described. After the holographic filter is recorded, it can be addressed with extremely weak object beams and an even weaker reference beam to obtain a pattern-recognition signal. Because of beam-coupling energy transfer from the input object beam to the diffracted beam, the recognition signal is greatly amplified. Experimental results of this technique using BaTiO3 crystal show that 5 orders of magnitude of amplification of a recognition signal can be obtained.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an optical steganography method in which a data signal is transmitted using amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise as a carrier. The ASE serving as a carrier for the private signal has an identical frequency spectrum to the existing noise generated by the Erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) in the transmission system. The system also carries a conventional data channel that is not private. The so-called "stealth" or private channel is well-hidden within the noise of the system. Phase modulation is used for both the stealth channel and the public channel. Using homodyne detection, the short coherence length of the ASE ensures that the stealth signal can only be recovered if the receiver closely matches the delay-length difference, which is deliberately changed in a dynamic fashion that is only known to the transmitter and its intended receiver. PMID:23389187

We have studied the characteristics of optical bistability of different types of optical modes amplified by small-size quantum dot vertical cavity semiconductor opticalamplifiers operated in reflection. Our analysis reveals that TE01 mode exhibits stronger intensity-dependent non-linearity in small radius devices, which results in stronger optical phase modulation and therefore larger hysteresis width compared with the other modes. The effect of the wavelength detuning of the input signal on the shape of the hysteresis loop is studied. We find that butterfly hysteresis loop exhibits the largest hysteresis width compared with clockwise and counterclockwise loops. Our analysis reveals that doping the quantum dots with p-type doping slightly reduces the hysteresis width while doping the dots with n-type doping clearly increases the hysteresis width for any wavelength detuning. We estimate that the hysteresis width of quantum dot active layer will exhibit higher hysteresis width compared with quantum well active layer having the same threshold gain.

We proposed a theoretical model to investigate the polarization pulling effect in bi-directionally pumped degenerate Raman assisted fiber optical parameter amplifiers (RA-FOPAs) using randomly birefringent fibers. The contributions of chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), Raman gain, and nonlinear effects to the phase matching in RA-FOPAs are investigated. We characterize four different states of polarization pulling in RA-FOPAs. We found that broadband polarization attraction can be obtained in the optimum phase-matching state of the bi-directionally pumped RA-FOPAs when the parametric pump power is chosen to avoid deep saturation of the Raman gain. PMID:27136985

An all-optical scheme aimed at minimizing distortions induced by semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) over modulated optical carriers is presented. The scheme employs an additional SOA properly biased to act as a saturated absorber, and thus counteract the distortions induced by the first amplifying device. The scheme here is demonstrated in silico, for 40 and 100 Gb/s (10 and 25 Gbaud, 16 QAM), with reasonable total gain (>20 dB) for symbol error rate below the forward error correction limit.

A new class of highly efficient Optical Parametric Amplifiers (OPA) is explored in this dissertation, which have the potential to reduce the power requirement on the pump and enable new functionalities. This originates from the simple notion that figure of merit (FoM) of an OPA is proportional to the product of the pump power and amplifier's length and nonlinearity. Silica fibers have been developed for over five decades and offer unparalleled transparency. By merely extending the fiber, i.e. the amplifier's length, a high FoM amplifier can be formed while keeping the pump at a moderate, sub-Watt power level. Unfortunately, optical fibers are inherently non-uniform. Their core size fluctuates along the fiber on a nanometer scale which is on the order of the fiber's molecular constituents. It is currently established that the performance of a fiber-based OPA (FOPA) is dictated by its stochastic nature. In fact, given a moderate pump power level, the highly efficient OPA will be required to maintain a strict phase matching condition across hundreds of meters. Facing this challenge, this dissertation focuses on a locally-controlled, high FoM FOPA. A high FoM FOPA operates in the deeply saturated regime in which a weak signal saturates the amplifier and depletes the pump power, effectively generating an inverse response of the pump output power to the signal input power. Given FOPAs' inhomogeneous nature, the performance limit of deeply saturated FOPAs is studied. So far, FOPAs have been commonly treated as a uniform entity; however, this study discovers unique features of the system which originate from and are strongly influenced by the fiber's inhomogeneous nature. One major example is the non-reciprocal response of deeply saturated FOPAs. It was found that deeply saturated FOPAs perform very highly, as the pump can respond to a rapidly varying (sub-THz) weak (sub-muW) signal. This is a novel method which obtained orders of magnitude improvement over current

The advent of transformation optics and metamaterials has made possible devices producing extreme effects on wave propagation. Here we describe a class of invisible reservoirs and amplifiers for waves, which we refer to as Schrödinger hats. The unifying mathematical principle on which these are based admits such devices for any time harmonic waves modeled by either the Helmholtz or Schrödinger equation, e.g., polarized waves in electromagnetism, acoustical waves and matter waves in quantum mechanics. Schrödinger hats occupy one part of a parameter-space continuum of wave-manipulating structures which also contains standard transformation optics based cloaks, resonant cloaks and cloaked sensors. Possible applications include near-field quantum microscopy. PMID:22699493

The backscattering spectrum of optical fiber has been measured by use 1427 nm Raman laser and Q8384 optical spectrum analyzer and Stokes and anti-Stokes ZX band backscattering spectrum has been first observed and discussed, ZX band frequency shift is 1THz, bandwidth 3THz(3dB). Optimum design of S-band negative dispersion DCF discrete fiber Raman amplifier has been researched by OPTIAMP DESIGN 3.3 SOFTWARE (made in Canada Optiwave Corporation) and gain spectrum and gain vs. power of DCF discrete fiber Raman amplifier have been measured, practical including Stokes ZX band backscattering gain effect. Pump on/off small signal gain is 13dB (pump power 700mw; fiber 5.1km) and gain band width is 88nm (1440nm-1528nm). The operation principle, configuration and performance of distributed fiber Raman temperature sensors system has been researched. Amplification of anti-Stokes spontaneity Raman scattering (ARS) effect of fiber and its temperature effect has been first observed and discussed. It has been applied to 30km distributed FRS system.

A concept for an ultra-broad-band optical parametric amplifier or oscillator has emerged as a by-product of a theoretical study in fundamental quantum optics. The study was originally intended to address the question of whether the two-photon temporal correlation function of light [in particular, light produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC)] can be considerably narrower than the inverse of the spectral width (bandwidth) of the light. The answer to the question was found to be negative. More specifically, on the basis of the universal integral relations between the quantum two-photon temporal correlation and the classical spectrum of light, it was found that the lower limit of two-photon correlation time is set approximately by the inverse of the bandwidth. The mathematical solution for the minimum two-photon correlation time also provides the minimum relative frequency dispersion of the down-converted light components; in turn, the minimum relative frequency dispersion translates to the maximum bandwidth, which is important for the design of an ultra-broad-band optical parametric oscillator or amplifier. In the study, results of an analysis of the general integral relations were applied in the case of an optically nonlinear, frequency-dispersive crystal in which SPDC produces collinear photons. Equations were found for the crystal orientation and pump wavelength, specific for each parametric-down-converting crystal, that eliminate the relative frequency dispersion of collinear degenerate (equal-frequency) signal and idler components up to the fourth order in the frequency-detuning parameter

Heralded noiseless amplification of photons has recently been shown to provide a means to overcome losses in complex quantum communication tasks. In particular, to overcome transmission losses that could allow for the violation of a Bell inequality free from the detection loophole, for device independent quantum key distribution (DI-QKD). Several implementations of a heralded photon amplifier have been proposed and the first proof of principle experiments realized. Here we present the first full characterization of such a device to test its functional limits and potential for DI-QKD. This device is tested at telecom wavelengths and is shown to be capable of overcoming losses corresponding to a transmission through 20 km of single mode telecom fibre. We demonstrate heralded photon amplifier with a gain >100 and a heralding probability >83%, required by DI-QKD protocols that use the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality. The heralded photon amplifier clearly represents a key technology for the realization of DI-QKD in the real world and over typical network distances.

A kind of beam automatic alignment method used for double paths amplification in the electron pumped excimer laser system is demonstrated. In this way, the beams from the amplifiers can be transferred along the designated direction and accordingly irradiate on the target with high stabilization and accuracy. However, owing to nonexistence of natural alignment references in excimer laser amplifiers, two cross-hairs structure is used to align the beams. Here, one crosshair put into the input beam is regarded as the near-field reference while the other put into output beam is regarded as the far-field reference. The two cross-hairs are transmitted onto Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) by image-relaying structures separately. The errors between intersection points of two cross-talk images and centroid coordinates of actual beam are recorded automatically and sent to closed loop feedback control mechanism. Negative feedback keeps running until preset accuracy is reached. On the basis of above-mentioned design, the alignment optical path is built and the software is compiled, whereafter the experiment of double paths automatic alignment in electron pumped excimer laser amplifier is carried through. Meanwhile, the related influencing factors and the alignment precision are analyzed. Experimental results indicate that the alignment system can achieve the aiming direction of automatic aligning beams in short time. The analysis shows that the accuracy of alignment system is 0.63μrad and the beam maximum restoration error is 13.75μm. Furthermore, the bigger distance between the two cross-hairs, the higher precision of the system is. Therefore, the automatic alignment system has been used in angular multiplexing excimer Main Oscillation Power Amplification (MOPA) system and can satisfy the requirement of beam alignment precision on the whole.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) optical stealth transmission system carried by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise. The stealth signal is hidden in both time and frequency domains by using ASE noise as the signal carrier. Each WDM channel uses part of the ASE spectrum, which provides more flexibility to apply stealth transmission in a public network and adds another layer of security to the stealth channel. Multi-channel transmission also increases the overall channel capacity, which is the major limitation of the single stealth channel transmission based on ASE noise. The relations between spectral bandwidth and coherence length of ASE carrier have been theoretically analyzed and experimentally investigated. PMID:25361121

Optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) have the reputation of being average power scalable due to the instantaneous nature of the parametric process (zero quantum defect). This Letter reveals serious challenges originating from thermal load in the nonlinear crystal caused by absorption. We investigate these thermal effects in high average power OPAs based on beta barium borate. Absorption of both pump and idler waves is identified to contribute significantly to heating of the nonlinear crystal. A temperature increase of up to 148 K with respect to the environment is observed and mechanical tensile stress up to 40 MPa is found, indicating a high risk of crystal fracture under such conditions. By restricting the idler to a wavelength range far from absorption bands and removing the crystal coating we reduce the peak temperature and the resulting temperature gradient significantly. Guidelines for further power scaling of OPAs and other nonlinear devices are given. PMID:23455291

We present two and three beam pumped optical parametric amplifier of broadband chirped pulses. The seed pulses from Ti:sapphire oscillator were stretched and amplified in a non-collinear geometry pumping with up to three beams derived from independent laser amplifiers. The signal with ˜90 nm bandwidth was amplified up to 0.72 mJ. The conversion efficiency dependence on intersection angles of pump beams is also revealed.

A new four wave mixing (FWM) model for an optical network with amplifiers and a comparative analysis among three proposed amplifiers placement techniques have been presented in this paper. The FWM model is validated with the experimental measured data. The novelty of this model is its uniqueness that on direct substitutions of network parameters like length, it works even for unequal inter amplifier separations. The novelty of the analysis done among three schemes is that it presents fair choice of amplifiers placement methods for varied total system length. The appropriateness of these three schemes has been analyzed on the basis of critical system length, critical number of amplifiers and critical bit error rate (10-9) in presence of four wave mixing (FWM) and amplified spontaneous emission noise (ASE). The implementation of analysis done has been given with the help of an example of a regenerative metropolitan area network (MAN). The results suggest that the decreasing fiber section scheme should be avoided for placements of amplifiers and schemes IUFS and EFS shows their importance interchangeably for different set of parameters.

All-optical signal processing has been considered a solution to overcome the bandwidth and speed limitations imposed by conventional electronic-based systems. Over the last few years, an impressive range of all-optical signal processors have been proposed, but few of them come with reconfigurability, a feature highly needed for practical signal processing applications. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an analog optical signal processor based on a phase-shifted distributed feedback semiconductor opticalamplifier (DFB-SOA) and an optical filter. The proposed analog optical signal processor can be reconfigured to perform signal processing functions including ordinary differential equation solving and temporal intensity differentiation. The reconfigurability is achieved by controlling the injection currents. Our demonstration provitdes a simple and effective solution for all-optical signal processing and computing. PMID:26813252

All-optical signal processing has been considered a solution to overcome the bandwidth and speed limitations imposed by conventional electronic-based systems. Over the last few years, an impressive range of all-optical signal processors have been proposed, but few of them come with reconfigurability, a feature highly needed for practical signal processing applications. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an analog optical signal processor based on a phase-shifted distributed feedback semiconductor opticalamplifier (DFB-SOA) and an optical filter. The proposed analog optical signal processor can be reconfigured to perform signal processing functions including ordinary differential equation solving and temporal intensity differentiation. The reconfigurability is achieved by controlling the injection currents. Our demonstration provitdes a simple and effective solution for all-optical signal processing and computing.

All-optical signal processing has been considered a solution to overcome the bandwidth and speed limitations imposed by conventional electronic-based systems. Over the last few years, an impressive range of all-optical signal processors have been proposed, but few of them come with reconfigurability, a feature highly needed for practical signal processing applications. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an analog optical signal processor based on a phase-shifted distributed feedback semiconductor opticalamplifier (DFB-SOA) and an optical filter. The proposed analog optical signal processor can be reconfigured to perform signal processing functions including ordinary differential equation solving and temporal intensity differentiation. The reconfigurability is achieved by controlling the injection currents. Our demonstration provitdes a simple and effective solution for all-optical signal processing and computing. PMID:26813252

We demonstrate shaping of high-energy broadband Yb amplifier pulses for the generation of a (sub)picosecond top-hat temporal pulse profile that significantly improves pumping efficiency of an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). Phase-only modulation is applied by an acousto-optic programmable dispersion filter. This simple scheme is scalable to a high average power due to a relatively broad bandwidth of the Yb:CaF(2) gain medium used in the amplifier that supports a sub-150-fs transform-limited pulse duration. Additionally we show that OPA seeding with supercontinuum remains possible because top-hat-shaped pulses passed through a glass block recompress to ≈200 fs with minimum satellite production. PMID:22743450

High-capacity fiber-optic communications are promising technologies to satisfy people's continuously growing demands for bandwidth hungry data services. Multi-wavelength optical circuit switching (OCS) technology is already widely deployed, however, with the limited number of transceivers equipped at each optical node and other constraints, the number of lightpaths which can be established and employed simultaneously in an optical network is restricted. This reduces the utilization efficiency of wavelength resources. Comparing to OCS, dynamic optical switching systems such as optical packet switching (OPS) offer higher efficiency in terms of wavelength resource utilization and have the potential to share more of the wavelength resources on fiber-links between larger numbers of users simultaneously. In such networks, bursty input signals or changes in traffic density may cause optical power surges that can damage optical components or impose gain transients on the signals that impair signal quality. A common approach for reducing gain transients is to employ electrical automatic gain control (AGC) or optical gain-clamping by optical feedback (OFB). AGC may be limited by the speed of the feedback circuit and result in additional transients. Meanwhile OFB can clamp the gain of power varying optical signals without transient but can introduce amplitude fluctuations caused by relaxation oscillations in the lasing cavity for large input power fluctuations. We propose and demonstrate a novel scheme for suppressing the power transients and the relaxation oscillations. This scheme can be utilized in opticalamplifiers even if the optical feedback is employed.

Some practical adaptive techniques for the efficient noiseless coding of a broad class of such data sources are developed and analyzed. Algorithms are designed for coding discrete memoryless sources which have a known symbol probability ordering but unknown probability values. A general applicability of these algorithms to solving practical problems is obtained because most real data sources can be simply transformed into this form by appropriate preprocessing. These algorithms have exhibited performance only slightly above all entropy values when applied to real data with stationary characteristics over the measurement span. Performance considerably under a measured average data entropy may be observed when data characteristics are changing over the measurement span.

An ultrafast all-optical logic NOR gate based on a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) and a fiber delay interferometer (FDI) is presented. For high-speed input return-to-zero (RZ) signal, nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) switching windows which satisfy Boolean NOR operation can be formed by properly choosing the delay time and the phase shift of FDI. 40Gb/s NOR operation has been demonstrated successfully with low control optical power. The factors that degrade the NOR operation have been discussed.

This thesis describes the theoretical and experimental investigation of magnetic amplifying magneto optical systems (MAMMOS) along with the conception of two applications based on MAMMOS. The work has six major accomplishments. First, a simplified model of MAMMOS was created. The model determines if bits are read by testing the nucleation condition in the readout layer. The model's output provides insight into the operation of MAMMOS and was used in the performance analysis of various MAMMOS recording schemes. Second, the expansion of domains in the readout layer was modeled. In the model, domain wall forces are calculated and used to move the wall until a stable condition is found in the system. The expansion and MAMMOS models were integrated to create a complete system model. Using this model, the size and shape of domains expanded in MAMMOS can be investigated. Third, the domain expansion speed in the MAMMOS readout layer was experimentally investigated. The read back signal was measured in a working MAMMOS system using an ultra-fast monolithic photodetector/amplifier chip. The measured expansion and collapse occurred in less than 2 and approximately 5 ns respectively, indicating the limiting factor to MAMMOS speeds may be the collapse process. Fourth, a new method of encoding and reading information in MAMMOS using the position of domains was introduced and theoretically investigated. The new domain position detection (DPD)-MAMMOS technique provides several advantages including a lower clock frequency, larger power margins, and integrated clock recovery. Using the model, DPD-MAMMOS was shown to outperform other systems for position noise levels less than 30 nm. Fifth, a new read only memory (ROM) structure that is compatible with and has the density advantages of MAMMOS was introduced and investigated. This MAMMOS-ROM is a low-cost, single-layer ROM which is similar to a compact disc (CD) in production. Sixth, a new technique was introduced for measuring

We report on an initial airborne demonstration of atmospheric methane column measurements at 1.65 micrometers using a widely tunable, seeded optical parametric amplifier (OPA) lidar and a photon counting detector. Methane is an important greenhouse gas and accurate knowledge of its sources and sinks is needed for climate modeling. Our lidar system uses 20 pulses at increasing wavelengths and integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) to map a methane line at 1650.9 nanometers. The wavelengths are generated by using a Nd:YAG pump laser at 1064.5 nanometers and distributed feedback diode laser at 1650.9 nanometers and a periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal. The pulse width was 3 nanoseconds and the pulse repetition rate was 6.28 KHz. The outgoing energy was approximately 13 microJoules/pulse. A commercial 20 nanometer diameter fiber-coupled telescope with a photon counting detector operated in analog mode with a 0.8 nanometer bandpass filter was used as the lidar receiver. The lidar system was integrated on NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory, based at Dryden Airborne operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale CA. Three flights were performed in the central valley of California. Each flight lasted about 2.5 hours and it consisted of several flight segments at constant altitudes at approximately 3, 4.5, 6, 7.6, 9.1, 10.6 km (l0, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 kft). An in-situ cavity ring down spectrometer made by Picarro Inc. was flown along with the lidar instrument provided us with the "truth" i.e. the local CH4, CO2 and H2O concentrations at the constant flight altitude segments. Using the aircraft's altitude, GPS, and meteorological data we calculated the theoretical differential optical depth of the methane absorption at increasing altitudes. Our results showed good agreement between the experimentally derived optical depth measurements from the lidar instrument and theoretical calculations as the flight altitude was increased from 3 to 10.6 kilometers, assuming a

The temporal intensity contrast of high-power lasers based on optical parametric amplification (OPA) can be limited by parametric fluorescence from the non-linear gain stages. Here we present a spectroscopic method for direct measurement of unwanted parametric fluorescence widely applicable from unseeded to fully seeded and saturated OPA operation. Our technique employs simultaneous spectroscopy of fluorescence photons slightly outside the seed bandwidth and strongly attenuated light at the seed central wavelength. To demonstrate its applicability we have characterised the performance of a two-stage picosecond OPA pre-amplifier with 2.8×105 gain, delivering 335 μJ pulses at 1054 nm. We show that fluorescence from a strongly seeded OPA is reduced by ~500× from the undepleted to full pump depletion regimes. We also determine the vacuum fluctuation driven noise term seeding this OPA fluorescence to be 0.7±0.4 photons ps-1 nm-1 bandwidth. The resulting shot-to-shot statistics highlights a 1.5% probability of a five-fold and 0.3% probability of a ten-fold increase of fluorescence above the average value. Finally, we show that OPA fluorescence can be limited to a few-ps pedestal with 3×10-9 temporal intensity contrast 1.3 ps ahead of an intense laser pulse, a level highly attractive for large scale chirped-pulse OPA laser systems.

Interactions of bacteria with target molecules (e.g. antibiotics) or other microorganisms are of growing interest. The first barrier for targeting gram-negative bacteria is layer of a Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Liquid crystal (LC) based sensors covered with LPS monolayers, as presented in this study, offer a simple model to study and make use of this type of interface for detection and screening. This work describes in detail the production and application of such sensors based on three different LPS that have been investigated regarding their potential to serve as sensing layer to detect bacteria. The LPS O127:B8 in combination with a LC based sensor was identified to be most useful as biomimetic sensing surface. This LPS/LC combination interacts with three different bacteria species, one gram-positive and two gram-negative species, allowing the detection of bacterial presence regardless from their viability. It could be shown that even very low bacterial cell numbers (minimum 500 cell ml(-1)) could be detected within minutes (maximum 15 min). The readout mechanism is the adsorption of bacterial entities on surface bond LPS molecules with the LC serving as an opticalamplifier. PMID:26827146

Rapid advances in high-field physics achieved in recent years, most notably generation of isolated soft X-ray attosecond pulses, owe their success to the development of driver lasers with specific pulse properties. The latter include ultrahigh peak intensity, quasi-monocycle duration, and reliable control over the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) [1],[2]. Although the driver lasers currently employed in this research field operate nearly exclusively in the wavelength region of the Ti:sapphire gain (i.e. around 0.8 µm), a switching over to a longer, infrared (IR) wavelength would offer significant advantages. Because of the λ 2 scaling of the ponderomotive energy, the intensity of IR pulses needed to attain emission at a given X-ray photon energy could be substantially lowered in comparison with the 0.8-µm case [3]-[5]. This is expected to be extraordinarily helpful for up-scaling the X-ray frequency, decreasing the duration of X-ray attosecond pulses by at least a factor of λ 3/2, and suppressing undesired target preionization before the interaction with the strongest half-cycle of the laser pulse. From the standpoint of laser technology, the longer duration of the IR optical period reduces the number of cycles for a given pulse envelope and, therefore, relaxes the demand to the amplifier gain bandwidth, which in the case of 5-fs 0.8-µm pulses typically reaches the extreme > 100 THz.

The modulation instability (MI) in optical fiber amplifiers and lasers with anomalous dispersion leads to CW beam breakup and the growth of multiple pulses. This can be both a detrimental effect, limiting the performance of amplifiers, and also an underlying physical mechanism in the operation of MI-based devices. Here we revisit the analytical theory of MI in fiber opticalamplifiers. The results of the exact theory are compared with the previously used adiabatic approximation model, and the range of applicability of the latter is determined. The same technique is applicable to the study of spatial MI in solid state laser amplifiers and MI in non-uniform media.

A scheme to realize high speed all-optical encryption and decryption using key-stream generators and an XOR gate based on quantum dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers (QD-SOAs) was studied. The key used for encryption and decryption is a high speed all-optical pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) which is generated by a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) composed of QD-SOA-based logic XOR and AND gates. Two other kinds of more secure key-stream generators, i.e. cascaded design and parallel design, were also designed and investigated. Nonlinear dynamics including carrier heating and spectral hole-burning in the QD-SOA are taken into account together with the rate equations in order to realize all-optical logic operations. Results show that this scheme can realize all-optical encryption and decryption by using key-stream generators at high speed (~250 Gb/s).

The optical access networks are nowadays swiftly developing in the telecommunications field. These networks can provide higher data transfer rates, and have great potential to the future in terms of transmission possibilities. Many local internet providers responded to these facts and began gradually installing optical access networks into their originally built networks, mostly based on wireless communication. This allowed enlargement of possibilities for end-users in terms of high data rates and also new services such as Triple play, IPTV (Internet Protocol television) etc. However, with this expansion and building-up is also related the potential of reach in case of these networks. Big cities, such as Prague, Brno, Ostrava or Olomouc cannot be simply covered, because of their sizes and also because of their internal regulations given by various organizations in each city. Standard logical and also physical reach of EPON (IEEE 802.3ah - Ethernet Passive Optical Network) optical access network is about 20 km. However, for networks based on Wavelength Division Multiplex the reach can be up to 80 km, if the optical-fiber amplifier is inserted into the network. This article deals with simulation of different types of amplifiers for WDM-PON (Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Network) network in software application Optiwave OptiSystem and than are the values from the application and from real measurement compared.

The analysis of semiconductor opticalamplifier applications in Radio-over-Fiber systems of telecommunication networks is given. In such systems semiconductor opticalamplifier can be used for either amplification, modulation or detection, and also as an universal device.

We demonstrate with realistic numerical simulations that fiber optical parametric chirped pulse amplification is able to amplify ultra-short optical pulses. Such amplifiers driven by two-pump waves can amplify pulse bandwidth twice as large as the one of a single pump configuration. We show that pulses as short as 50 fs can be directly amplified. In addition, we take benefit from the saturation regime to achieve spectral broadening which makes possible to reduce pulse duration down to 15 fs. PMID:23736440

Optically active phonon modes in ferroelectrics such as potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) in the ~7–20 THz range play an important role in applications of these materials in Raman lasing and terahertz wave generation. Previous studies with picosecond pulse excitation demonstrated that the interaction of pump pulses with phonons can lead to efficient stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) accompanying optical parametric oscillation or amplification processes (OPO/OPA), and to efficient polariton-phonon scattering. In this work, we investigate the behavior of infrared OPAs employing KTP or KTA crystals when pumped with ~800-nm ultrashort pulses of duration comparable to the oscillation period of the optical phonons. We demonstrate that under conditions of coherent impulsive Raman excitation of the phonons, when the effective χ(2) nonlinearity cannot be considered instantaneous, the parametrically amplified waves (most notably, signal) undergo significant spectral modulations leading to an overall redshift of the OPA output. The pump intensity dependence of the redshifted OPA output, the temporal evolution of the parametric gain, as well as the pump spectral modulations suggest the presence of coupling between the nonlinear optical polarizations PNL of the impulsively excited phonons and those of parametrically amplified waves.

Optically active phonon modes in ferroelectrics such as potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) in the ~7–20 THz range play an important role in applications of these materials in Raman lasing and terahertz wave generation. Previous studies with picosecond pulse excitation demonstrated that the interaction of pump pulses with phonons can lead to efficient stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) accompanying optical parametric oscillation or amplification processes (OPO/OPA), and to efficient polariton-phonon scattering. In this work, we investigate the behavior of infrared OPAs employing KTP or KTA crystals when pumped with ~800-nm ultrashort pulses of duration comparable to the oscillation period of the optical phonons. We demonstrate that under conditions of coherent impulsive Raman excitation of the phonons, when the effective χ(2) nonlinearity cannot be considered instantaneous, the parametrically amplified waves (most notably, signal) undergo significant spectral modulations leading to an overall redshift of the OPA output. The pump intensity dependence of the redshifted OPA output, the temporal evolution of the parametric gain, as well as the pump spectral modulations suggest the presence of coupling between the nonlinear optical polarizations PNL of the impulsively excited phonons and those of parametrically amplified waves. PMID:26975881

Optically active phonon modes in ferroelectrics such as potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) in the ~7–20 THz range play an important role in applications of these materials in Raman lasing and terahertz wave generation. Previous studies with picosecond pulse excitation demonstrated that the interaction of pump pulses with phonons can lead to efficient stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) accompanying optical parametric oscillation or amplification processes (OPO/OPA), and to efficient polariton-phonon scattering. In this work, we investigate the behavior of infrared OPAs employing KTP or KTA crystals when pumped with ~800-nm ultrashort pulses of duration comparable to themore » oscillation period of the optical phonons. We demonstrate that under conditions of coherent impulsive Raman excitation of the phonons, when the effective χ(2) nonlinearity cannot be considered instantaneous, the parametrically amplified waves (most notably, signal) undergo significant spectral modulations leading to an overall redshift of the OPA output. Furthermore, the pump intensity dependence of the redshifted OPA output, the temporal evolution of the parametric gain, as well as the pump spectral modulations suggest the presence of coupling between the nonlinear optical polarizations PNL of the impulsively excited phonons and those of parametrically amplified waves.« less

Optically active phonon modes in ferroelectrics such as potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) in the ~7-20 THz range play an important role in applications of these materials in Raman lasing and terahertz wave generation. Previous studies with picosecond pulse excitation demonstrated that the interaction of pump pulses with phonons can lead to efficient stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) accompanying optical parametric oscillation or amplification processes (OPO/OPA), and to efficient polariton-phonon scattering. In this work, we investigate the behavior of infrared OPAs employing KTP or KTA crystals when pumped with ~800-nm ultrashort pulses of duration comparable to the oscillation period of the optical phonons. We demonstrate that under conditions of coherent impulsive Raman excitation of the phonons, when the effective χ((2)) nonlinearity cannot be considered instantaneous, the parametrically amplified waves (most notably, signal) undergo significant spectral modulations leading to an overall redshift of the OPA output. The pump intensity dependence of the redshifted OPA output, the temporal evolution of the parametric gain, as well as the pump spectral modulations suggest the presence of coupling between the nonlinear optical polarizations P(NL) of the impulsively excited phonons and those of parametrically amplified waves. PMID:26975881

The cascadability of Semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) gates and the size limitations for several kinds of switch architectures based on SOA's are studied theoretically. The analysis shows that the sizes of matrix-vector switches are severely limited owing to the splitting losses, waveguide losses and coupling losses. However for distributed gain matrix-vector switch and Benes switch, the accumulation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and non-ideal extinction ratio also greatly influence the maximal sizes of switches. The calculation results also reveal that the gain optimum strategy for switches based on SOA's, which derived from steady state analysis, will not be optimum when non-ideal extinction ratio and dynamical gain saturation is considered

A 250 mJ, 5 Hz repetition rate optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier with near-Fourier-transform-limited, 430 fs pulses and a beam that can be focused to near the diffraction limit is demonstrated.

We report the enhancement in imaging performance of a spectral-domain optical coherence microscope (OCM) in turbid media by incorporating an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The OPA provides a high level of optical gain to the sample arm, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the OCM by a factor of up to 15 dB. A unique nonlinear confocal gate is automatically formed in the OPA, which enables selective amplification of singly scattered (ballistic) photons against the multiply-scattered light background. Simultaneous enhancement in both imaging depth and spatial resolution in imaging microstructures in highly light-scattering media are demonstrated with the combined OPA-OCM setup. Typical OCM inteferograms (left) and images (right) without and with OPA. PMID:25196251

Enabled by the ultrahigh-speed all-optical wavelength-swept mechanism and broadband optical amplification, amplifiedoptical time-stretch optical coherence tomography (AOT-OCT) has recently been demonstrated as a practical alternative to achieve ultrafast A-scan rate of multi-MHz in OCT. With the aim of identifying the optimal scenarios for MHz operation in AOT-OCT, we here present a theoretical framework to evaluate its performance metric. In particular, the analysis discusses the unique features of AOT-OCT, such as its superior coherence length, and the relationship between the optical gain and the A-scan rate. More importantly, we evaluate the sensitivity of AOT-OCT in the MHz regime under the influence of the amplifier noise. Notably, the model shows that AOT-OCT is particularly promising when operated at the A-scan rate well beyond multi-MHz--not trivially achievable by any existing swept-source OCT platform. A sensitivity beyond 90 dB, close to the shot-noise limit, can be maintained in the range of 2 - 10 MHz with an optical net gain of ~10 dB. Experimental measurement also shows excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. While distributed fiber Raman amplification is mainly considered in this paper, the theoretical model is generally applicable to any type of amplification schemes. As a result, our analysis serves as a useful tool for further optimization of AOT-OCT system--as a practical alternative to enable MHz OCT operation. PMID:25321720

The modulation instability (MI) in optical fiber amplifiers and lasers with anomalous dispersion leads to CW radiation break-up and growth of multiple pulses. This can be both a detrimental effect limiting the performance of amplifiers, and also an underlying physical mechanism in the operation of MI-based devices. Here we revisit the analytical theory of MI in fiber opticalamplifiers. The results of the exact theory are compared with the previously used adiabatic approximation model and the range of applicability of the later is determined.

A new diode-pumped solid-state multipass amplifier produced 38-dB small-signal gain at 1.047 micron in Nd:YLF with 1.6-W pump power and 37 percent extraction efficiency near saturation. The amplifier had a 1:1 confocally reimaging multipass design that generated both high gain and high efficiency. The same amplifier design with 13 W of pump power was tested with Nd:YAG at 1.064 micron, which gave 38-dB small-signal gain and 3.2 W of output power, and with Nd:YVO4, also at 1.064 micron, which gave greater than 50-dB small-signal gain and 4.3 W of output power.

We demonstrate a sensitivity improvement in an optical frequency domain reflectometry-optical coherence tomography (OFDR-OCT) system with a discretely swept light source by incorporating a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) in a sample arm. With the system, we achieve a high sensitivity of -134.4 dB when we measure the reflective mirror with an A-line rate of 0.25 kHz. This improves the sensitivity (-125.2 dB) by 9.2 dB compared with a system without the SOA. The OCT system without the SOA shows a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 56 dB when the signal light power is attenuated by about 66 dB, and the SNRs of less than 56 dB are obtained at higher attenuation levels. However, an SOA-incorporated OCT system provides the SNR of 56 dB at the much higher attenuation level of 86 dB. This means that using the SOA offers the large signal light power margin of 20 dB needed to obtain SNR of 56 dB. It is shown that the power margin is qualitatively dependent on the optical gain of the SOA. From an experimental analysis of the noises in the SOA-incorporated system, we found that the sensitivity enhancement is mainly limited by the beat noise between the reference light and the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the SOA. We obtained images that show clear cluster structures of enamel crystals near the dentin-enamel junction of an extracted human tooth with our SOA-incorporated discretely swept OFDR-OCT imaging, revealing the potential to achieve a high-speed OCT system with high sensitivity.

By injecting the optical NRZ data into a Fabry-Perot laser diode (FPLD) synchronously modulated at below threshold condition or a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) gain-depleted with a backward injected clock stream, the all-optical non-return to zero (NRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) format conversion of a STM-64 date-stream for synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) or an OC-192 data stream for synchronous optical network (SONET) in high-speed fiber-optic communication link can be performed. Without the assistance of any complicated RF electronic circuitry, the output RZ data-stream at bit rate of up to 10 Gbit/s is successfully transformed in the optically NRZ injection-locked FPLD, in which the incoming NRZ data induces gain-switching of the FPLD without DC driving current or at below threshold condition. A power penalty of 1.2 dB is measured after NRZ-to-RZ transformation in the FPLD. Alternatively, the all-optical 10Gbits/s NRZ-to-RZ format conversion can also be demonstrated in a semiconductor opticalamplifier under a backward dark-optical-comb injection with its duty-cycle 70%, which is obtained by reshaping from the received data clock at 10 GHz. The incoming optical NRZ data-stream is transformed into a pulsed RZ data-stream with its duty-cycle, rms timing jitter, and conversion gain of 15%, 4ps, and 3dB, respectively. In contrast to the FPLD, the SOA based NRZ-to-RZ converter exhibits an enhanced extinction ratio from 7 to 13 dB, and BER of 10 -13 at -18.5 dBm. In particular, the power penalty of the received RZ data-stream has greatly improved by 5 dB as compared to that obtained from FPLD.

A very high voltage amplifier is provided in which plural cascaded banks of capacitors are switched by optically isolated control switches so as to be charged in parallel from the preceding stage or capacitor bank and to discharge in series to the succeeding stage or capacitor bank in alternating control cycles. The optically isolated control switches are controlled by a logic controller whose power supply is virtually immune to interference from the very high voltage output of the amplifier by the optical isolation provided by the switches, so that a very high voltage amplification ratio may be attained using many capacitor banks in cascade.

A novel master oscillator/power amplifier architecture for optical parametric conversion of high pulse energy from 1.064 μm to 1.572 μm in KTiOPO4 crystal is presented. A high gain of more than 80 at 1.572 μm pumped by a high energy Q-switched pulse laser is realized. With a seeding signal energy of 1 mJ, and 400 mJ pump pulse at 100 Hz, an amplified signal pulse energy of over 80 mJ is obtained. The total optical-optical conversion efficiency reaches 21%.

We study optical breakdown from target reflected optical pulses in the Gemini laser system. We measure the retropulse fluence (or illuminance) leaving the amplifier in terms of the energy entering the breakdown region and find qualitative agreement but no quantitative agreement with theory. Particulates were observed on nucleopore filters through which gas samples were drawn.

We study optical breakdown from target reflected optical pulses in the Gemini laser system. We measure the retropulse fluence (or illuminance) leaving the amplifier in terms of the energy entering the breakdown region and find qualitative agreement but no quantitative agreement with theory. Particulates were observed on nucleopore filters through which gas samples were drawn.

Optical breakdown from target reflected optical pulses in the Gemini laser system was studied. The retropulse fluence (or illuminance) leaving the amplifier was measured in terms of the energy entering the breakdown region and qualitative agreement but no quantitative agreement with theory was found. Particulates were observed on nucleopore filters through which gas samples were drawn.

We describe an experiment that allows distant users to perform a labwork using Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) in order to understand the basics physics and engineering involved. The EDFA and the measurement instrumentation are specially designed so as to allow for remote control through the web. The purpose of the project can then be distant learning for students from developing countries which cannot afford this kind of high-cost equipment.

Use of fiber-optical networks has increased along with the growing demand for higher data throughputs. As data bandwidths increase, physical switching technologies must also scale accordingly. Optical-electrical-optical (OEO) switching technologies are widely utilized, where incoming optical signals are converted into and processed as electrical signals before conversion back into the optical domain. However, issues such as speed, cost, and power consumption have driven interest in the development of all-optical techniques, where data remains in the optical domain while being processed. Semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) have shown great promise for realizing all-optical technologies. Our work begins with the experimental characterization of SOAs, and we discuss the use of a time-resolved spectroscopy technique. We present a detailed analysis clarifying measurement requirements, though we conclude that this simple technique provides insufficient resolution for characterizing high-speed optical systems. We discuss the measurement theory for spectrograms, which provide high signal-to-noise ratios, excellent temporal resolution, and are sensitive to phase dynamics. We apply the spectrogram measurement to the characterization of an SOA. We develop a system of rate equations for modeling SOA dynamics, beginning with a detailed density matrix analysis providing expressions for gain and chirp without invoking the linewidth-enhancement factor. In accordance with the measurement results, we include a carrier temperature rate calculation in order to capture ultrafast dynamics. The traveling wave partial differential equations are solved so that both forward and reverse propagating signals are accurately modeled, and the results show good agreement with the spectrogram measurement. We identify the free-carrier plasma and the asymmetrical broadening terms in the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index as driving factors in the relatively larger ultrafast response

A monolithically integrated quantum dot (QD) optical gain modulator (OGM) with a QD semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) was successfully developed with T-band (1.0 µm waveband) and O-band (1.3 µm waveband) QD optical gain materials for Gbps-order, high-speed optical data generation. The insertion loss due to coupling between the device and the optical fiber was effectively compensated for by the SOA section. It was also confirmed that the monolithic QD-OGM/SOA device enabled >4.8 Gbps optical data generation with a clear eye opening in the T-band. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated error-free 4.8 Gbps optical data transmissions in each of the six wavelength channels over a 10-km-long photonic crystal fiber using the monolithic QD-OGM/SOA device in multiple O-band wavelength channels, which were generated by the single QD gain chip. These results suggest that the monolithic QD-OGM/SOA device will be advantageous in ultra-broadband optical frequency systems that utilize the T+O-band for short- and medium-range optical communications.

Wavelength-maintained all-optical pulse data pattern transformation based on a modified cross-gain-modulation architecture in a strongly gain-depleted semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) is investigated. Under a backward dark-optical-comb injection with 70% duty-cycle reshaping from the received data clock at 10GHz, the incoming optical data stream is transformed into a pulse data stream with duty cycle, rms timing jitter, and conversion gain of 15%, 4ps, and 3dB, respectively. The high-pass filtering effect of the gain-saturated SOA greatly improves the extinction ratio of data stream by 8dB and reduces its bit error rate to 10-12 at -18dBm.

The operation of a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-ring laser-based subsystem, with the capability to provide adjustable gain-clamped operation, will be described, and preliminary characterization results will be presented. The device uses two SOAs in a ring-cavity topology: one to amplify the signal and the other to control the gain. This type of subsystem finds applications in packet-based dynamic systems where it may be used for power equalization and linear amplification.

The rms noise charge induced by the amplifier for an optical receiver based on the linear-mode avalanche photodiode (APD) was analyzed. It is shown that for an amplifier with a 1-pF capacitor and a noise temperature of 100 K, the rms noise charge due to the amplifier is about 300. Since the noise charge must be small compared to the signal gain, APD gains on the order of 1000 will be required to operate the receiver in the linear mode.

We report the first experimental realization and detailed characterization of thulium doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs) specifically designed for optical communications providing high gain (>35 dB), noise figure as low as 5 dB, and over 100 nm wide bandwidth around 2 µm. A maximum saturated output power of 1.2 W was achieved with a slope efficiency of 50%. The gain dynamics of the amplifier were also examined. Our results show that TDFAs are well qualified as high performance amplifiers for possible future telecommunication networks operating around 2 µm. PMID:23609639

A fully tunable microwave photonic phase shifter involving a single semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) is proposed and demonstrated. 360° microwave phase shift has been achieved by tuning the carrier wavelength and the optical input power injected in an SOA while properly profiting from the dispersion feature of a conveniently designed notch filter. It is shown that the optical filter can be advantageously employed to switch between positive and negative microwave phase shifts. Numerical calculations corroborate the experimental results showing an excellent agreement.

Optical bistabilities have been considered to be useful for sensor applications. As a typical nonlinear device, Fabry-Perot semiconductor opticalamplifiers (FPSOAs) exhibit bistability under certain conditions. In this paper, the bistable characteristics in FPSOAs are investigated theoretically. Based on Adams's relationship between the incident optical intensity I in and the z-independent average intracavity intensity I av, an analytical expression of the bistable loop width in SOAs is derived. Numerical simulations confirm the accuracy of the analytical result.

Optical quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is experimentally demonstrated with a low-complexity modulator based on a semiconductor opticalamplifier and electroabsorption modulator. Flexible amplitude/phase format transmission is achieved. The applicability of octary QAM for coherent optical access networks with sustainable 3 Gb/s per-user bandwidth is investigated for a long reach of 100 km, and its compatibility with a potentially high split is verified. PMID:22859139

As the key prerequisite of high-speed volumetric structural and functional tissue imaging in real-time, scaling the A-scan rate beyond MHz has been one of the major pursuits in the development of optical coherence tomography (OCT). Along with a handful of techniques enabling multi-MHz, amplifiedoptical time-stretch OCT (AOT-OCT) has recently been demonstrated as a viable alternative for ultrafast swept-source OCT well above MHz without the need for the mechanical wavelength-tuning mechanism. In this paper, we report a new generation of AOT-OCT demonstrating superior performance to its older generation and all other time-stretch-based OCT modalities in terms of shot-to-shot stability, sensitivity (~90dB), roll-off performance (>4 mm/dB) and A-scan rate (11.5 MHz). Such performance is mainly attributed to the combined contribution from the stable operation of the broadband and compact mode-locked fiber laser as well as the optical amplification in-line with the time-stretch process. The system allows us, for the first time, to deliver volumetric time-stretch-based OCT of biological tissues with the single-shot A-scan rate beyond 10 MHz. Comparing with the existing high-speed OCT systems, the inertia-free AOT-OCT shows promises to realize high-performance 3D OCT imaging at video rate. PMID:25909017

A coupled-mode formalism, earlier used to describe transverse mode instabilities in single-pass optical fiber amplifiers is extended to the case of double-pass amplifiers. Contrary to the single-pass case, it is shown that the thermo-optic nonlinearity can couple light at the same frequency between the LP01 and LP11 modes, leading to a static deformation of the output beam profile. This novel phenomenon is caused by the interaction of light propagating in either direction with thermo-optic index perturbations caused by light propagating in the opposite direction. The threshold power for the static deformation is found to be several times lower than what is typically found for the dynamic modal instabilities observed in single-pass amplifiers. PMID:27410360

Optical fiber amplifiers based on PbS/CdS semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) modified by an amphiphilic polymer were demonstrated. Well-defined QDs and an amphiphilic copolymer were first prepared and the amphiphilic copolymer was then used to disperse the QDs into silica sol to allow uniform and reproducible incorporation of QDs into the silica coating of the optical fibers. QD-doped silica sol was deposited on the fusion tapered fiber coupler via dip-coating. A 1550 nm semiconductor light emitting diode as the signal source and a 980 nm laser diode as the pump source were injected into the fiber coupler simultaneously. Through evanescent wave excitation, a signal gain as high as 8 dB was obtained within the wavelength range between 1450 and 1650 nm. In addition, the optical fiber amplifiers based on PbS/CdS QDs showed enhanced thermal stability when compared to amplifiers based on PbS QDs. PMID:23571911

The chirp properties of semiconductor opticalamplifiers in all-optical switches are numerically investigated using a field propagation model. The chirp dynamics in the blue-shift and red-shift sideband are analyzed under the injection of random optical pump pulses. We also analyze the impact of the blue-detuned filtering scheme that is used to eliminate the pattern effect and enhance the operating speed of the optical switching. The reason for overshoots in eye diagrams in the blue-detuned filtering scheme is explained. We find that overshoots result from the ultrafast blue chirp induced by carrier heating and two-phonon absorption. These results are very useful for semiconductor opticalamplifier-based ultrafast all-optical signal processing.

We study noiseless subsystems on collective rotation channels of qudits, i.e., quantum channels with operators in the set {E}(d,n) = { U^{⊗ n}: U in {SU}(d)}. This is done by analyzing the decomposition of the algebra {A}(d,n) generated by {E}(d,n). We summarize the results for the channels on qubits (d=2) and obtain the maximum dimension of the noiseless subsystem that can be used as the quantum error correction code for the channel. Then we extend our results to general d. In particular, it is shown that the code rate, i.e., the number of protected qudits over the number of physical qudits, always approaches 1 for a suitable noiseless subsystem. Moreover, one can determine the maximum dimension of the noiseless subsystem by solving a non-trivial discrete optimization problem. The maximum dimension of the noiseless subsystem for d = 3 (qutrits) is explicitly determined by a combination of mathematical analysis and the symbolic software Mathematica.

An optical system for providing a wide angle input beam into ellipsoidal laser fusion target illumination systems. The optical system comprises one or more pairs of centrally apertured plane and ellipsoidal mirrors disposed to accept the light input from a conventional lens of modest focal length and thickness, to increase the angular divergence thereof to a value equivalent to that of fast lenses, and to direct the light into the ellipsoidal target illumination system.

Two types of semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) based on a double-layer quantum-well (InGa)As/(GaAl)As/GaAs heterostructure are investigated. The optical gain of more than 30 dB and saturation output power of more than 30 mW are achived at 1060 nm in pigtailed SOA modules. These SOAs used as active elements of a tunable laser provide rapid continuous tuning within 85 nm and 45 nm at output powers of 0.5 mW and more than 30 mW, respectively. (active media, lasers, and amplifiers)

We investigate the utilization of semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) and quantum-dot laser-based Raman amplifiers in high-capacity dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) 1310-nm transmission systems. Performed simulations showed that in a 10×40 Gbit/s system, the utilization of a single Raman amplifier in a back-propagation scheme can extend the maximum error-free (bit error rate <10-9) transmission distance by approximately 25 km in comparison with the same system utilizing only an SOA used as a preamplifier. We successfully applied a Raman amplifier in an 8×2×40 Gbit/s 1310-nm polarization multiplexed (PolMux) DWDM transmission over 25 km. Conducted experiments showed that the utilization of a Raman amplifier in this system leads to 4-dB improvement of the average channel sensitivity in comparison to the same system utilizing SOAs. This sensitivity improvement can be translated into a higher power budget. Moreover, lower input optical power in a system utilizing a Raman amplifier reduces the four-wave mixing interactions. The obtained results prove that Raman amplification can be successfully applied in 1310-nm high-capacity transmission systems, e.g., to extend the reach of 400G and 1T Ethernet systems.

In this paper, we present an analytical study of a (macro-bending EDFA)/Raman hybrid opticalamplifier. The bending radius is 4 mm with EDFA length 10 m with forward pump power in the range (100-500 mW) and Raman amplifier length (12-55 km) with backward pump power variations (80-200 mW) is considered in our model. Due to bending loss in EDFA, the gain of hybrid amplifier is increased to ~7 dB more than the normal EDFA/Raman hybrid amplifier and the noise figure is decreased by ~2 dB rather than without macro-bending EDFA/Raman hybrid amplifier. The signal to noise ratio (OSNR) calculations shows a better performance of macro-bending EDFA/Raman hybrid amplifier than without macro-bending one. A flat gain is obtained in the signal wavelength region (1560-1600 nm), which is the L-band. The calculated results for macro-bending case are compared with experimental results of normal case by Lee et al., in the L-band showing an increase in the gain, reduction in the noise figure and more gain flatness at the input signal -20 dBm for macro-bending EDFA/Raman hybrid amplifier.

A tapered semiconductor amplifier is injection seeded by a femtosecond optical frequency comb at 780 nm from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Energy gains of more than 17 dB(12 dB) are obtained for 1 mW(20 mW) of average input power when the input pulses are stretched into the picosecond range. A spectral window of supercontinuum light generated in a photonic fiber has also been amplified. Interferometric measurements show sub-Hertz linewidths for a heterodyne beat between the input and amplified comb components, yielding no detectable phase-noise degradation under amplification. These amplifiers can be used to boost the infrared power in f-to-2f interferometers used to determine the carrier-to-envelope offset frequency, with clear advantages for stabilization of octave-spanning femtosecond lasers and other supercontinuum light sources. PMID:16642104

Recent advances in optoelectronic devices require sophisticated optical simulation and modeling. These tiny semiconductor device structures, such as semiconductor lasers and light emitting diodes (LED), not only need detailed electrical computation, such as band structure, carrier transportation, and electron-hole recombination under different external voltages, but also require comprehensive optical modeling, such as photon generation and propagation. Optical modeling also includes waveguide structure calculations, guided mode and leakage mode identification, as well far-field pattern prediction using optical ray tracing. In modeling semiconductor lasers, light emission and propagation can be treated using the single mode of wave optics, the so-called photon propagation equation coupled with carrier transport equations. These differential equations can be numerically solved using the Finite Difference Method (FDM). In the LED modeling, the main tools are based on optical ray tracing, and photons are treated as light emissions with random directions and polarizations. Optical waveguide theory is used to qualitatively analyze photon emissions inside a LED chip, and helps to design the LED device structure. One important area of semiconductor laser modeling is the optical simulation of the wavelength converter based on semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA). This wavelength converter is a critical device in optical communication, and it can copy information from one wavelength to anther through cross-gain modulation. Some numerical methods have been developed to model the wavelength conversion. In these methods, solutions are found by solving differential equations in the time domain using FDM. In all previous models, the waveguide internal loss is assumed uniform across the cavity of the SOA, or the gain coefficient is based on the polynomial approximation method, i.e., the gain coefficient is assumed proportional to the difference between the carrier and

It is now almost twenty-five years since the first Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated. Currently, the EDFA is one of the most important elements widely used in different kinds of fiber-optic communication systems. However, driven by a constantly increasing demand, the network traffic, growing exponentially over decades, will lead to the overload of these systems (“capacity crunch”) because the operation of the EDFA is limited to a spectral region of 1530–1610 nm. It will require a search for new technologies and, in this respect, the development of opticalamplifiers for new spectral regions can be a promising approach. Most of fiber-opticamplifiers are created using rare-earth-doped materials. As a result, wide bands in shorter (1150–1530 nm) and longer wavelength (1600–1750 nm) regions with respect to the gain band of Er-doped fibers are still uncovered. Here we report on the development of a novel fiber amplifier operating in a spectral region of 1640–1770 nm pumped by commercially available laser diodes at 1550 nm. This amplifier was realized using bismuth-doped high-germania silicate fibers fabricated by MCVD technique.

It is now almost twenty-five years since the first Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated. Currently, the EDFA is one of the most important elements widely used in different kinds of fiber-optic communication systems. However, driven by a constantly increasing demand, the network traffic, growing exponentially over decades, will lead to the overload of these systems ("capacity crunch") because the operation of the EDFA is limited to a spectral region of 1530-1610 nm. It will require a search for new technologies and, in this respect, the development of opticalamplifiers for new spectral regions can be a promising approach. Most of fiber-opticamplifiers are created using rare-earth-doped materials. As a result, wide bands in shorter (1150-1530 nm) and longer wavelength (1600-1750 nm) regions with respect to the gain band of Er-doped fibers are still uncovered. Here we report on the development of a novel fiber amplifier operating in a spectral region of 1640-1770 nm pumped by commercially available laser diodes at 1550 nm. This amplifier was realized using bismuth-doped high-germania silicate fibers fabricated by MCVD technique. PMID:27357592

It is now almost twenty-five years since the first Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated. Currently, the EDFA is one of the most important elements widely used in different kinds of fiber-optic communication systems. However, driven by a constantly increasing demand, the network traffic, growing exponentially over decades, will lead to the overload of these systems (“capacity crunch”) because the operation of the EDFA is limited to a spectral region of 1530–1610 nm. It will require a search for new technologies and, in this respect, the development of opticalamplifiers for new spectral regions can be a promising approach. Most of fiber-opticamplifiers are created using rare-earth-doped materials. As a result, wide bands in shorter (1150–1530 nm) and longer wavelength (1600–1750 nm) regions with respect to the gain band of Er-doped fibers are still uncovered. Here we report on the development of a novel fiber amplifier operating in a spectral region of 1640–1770 nm pumped by commercially available laser diodes at 1550 nm. This amplifier was realized using bismuth-doped high-germania silicate fibers fabricated by MCVD technique. PMID:27357592

Reflective semiconductor opticalamplifiers (RSOAs) have shown promise for applications in WDM optical networks and in fiber ring mode-locked lasers. Polarization insensitive SOAs can be fabricated using tensile-strained bulk material and a rectangular cross section waveguide. The introduction of tensile strain can be used to compensate for the different confinement factors experienced by the waveguide TE and TM modes. There is a need for models that can be used to predict RSOA static characteristics such as the dependency of the signal gain on bias current and input optical power, the amplified spontaneous emission spectrum and noise figure. In this paper we extend our prior work on non-reflective SOAs to develop a static model that includes facet reflections. The model uses a detailed band structure description, which is used to determine the wavelength and carrier density dependency of the material gain and additive spontaneous emission. The model and includes a full geometrical description of the amplifier waveguide, including the input taper and the position dependency of the TE/TM confinement factors. The amplified signal and spontaneous emission are described by detailed travelling-wave equations and numerically solved in conjunction with a carrier density rate equation. The model uses material and geometric parameters for a commercially available RSOA. The versatility of the model is shown by several simulations that are used to predict the SOA operational characteristics as well as internal variables such as the amplified spontaneous emission and signal and the carrier density.

A novel integrated optical source capable of emitting faint pulses with different polarization states and with different intensity levels at 100 MHz has been developed. The source relies on a single laser diode followed by four semiconductor opticalamplifiers and thin film polarizers, connected through a fiber network. The use of a single laser ensures high level of indistinguishability in time and spectrum of the pulses for the four different polarizations and three different levels of intensity. The applicability of the source is demonstrated in the lab through a free space quantum key distribution experiment which makes use of the decoy state BB84 protocol. We achieved a lower bound secure key rate of the order of 3.64 Mbps and a quantum bit error ratio as low as 1.14×10⁻² while the lower bound secure key rate became 187 bps for an equivalent attenuation of 35 dB. To our knowledge, this is the fastest polarization encoded QKD system which has been reported so far. The performance, reduced size, low power consumption and the fact that the components used can be space qualified make the source particularly suitable for secure satellite communication. PMID:21369207

We successfully fabricate polymer waveguides with Europium-Aluminum (Eu-Al) polymer composite core using the Mosquito method that utilizes a microdispenser for realizing a compact waveguide opticalamplifiers and lasers. Rareearth (RE) ions are widely used as the gain medium for fiber lasers and optical fiber amplifiers. However, high concentration doping of rare-earth-ion leads to the concentration quenching resulting in observing less gain in optical amplification. For addressing the concentration quenching problem, a rare-earth metal (RE-M) polymer composite has been proposed by KRI, Inc. to be a waveguide core material. Actually, 10-wt% RE doping into organic polymer materials was already achieved. Hence, realization of compact and high-efficiency waveguide amplifiers and lasers have been anticipated using the RE-M polymer composite. In this paper, a microdispenser is adopted to fabricate a Eu-doped polymer waveguide. Then, it is experimentally confirmed that the low-loss waveguides are fabricated with a high reproducibility. Optical gain is estimated by measuring the amplified spontaneous emission using the variable stripe length method. The fabricated waveguide exhibits an optical gain as high as 7.1 dB/cm at 616-nm wavelength.

We report an all-optical signal amplifier and a signal distributor using cavity-atom coupling systems. In this system we couple atoms with an optical cavity and realize the great enhancement of a control laser by the cavity with the help of two high coupling lasers. By this effect, we can use one weak control field to control another strong target field and the intensity changes are linear with our experimental conditions. This can be used as an all-optical signal amplifier, also known as a ‘transphasor’. In our experiment, the gain of the weak field to strong field can be as high as 60. Furthermore, we can realize the distribution of optical signals, if we coordinate multiple cavity-atom coupling systems.

All-optical clock recovery is a key technology in all-optical 3R signal regeneration (Re-amplification, Retiming, and Reshaping) process. In this paper, a monolithic integrated three-section amplified feedback semiconductor laser (AFL) is demonstrated as an all optical clock regenerator. We fabricated a three-section AFL using quantum well intermixing process without regrowth instead of butt-joint process. The tunable characteristics of three-section AFL were investigated, and all optical clock recovery for 40Gb/s return to zero (RZ) 231-1 pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) is demonstrated experimentally using AFL with time jitter about 689.2fs.

A highly heat conductive layer is combined with or placed in the vicinity of the optical waveguide region of active semiconductor components. The thermally conductive layer enhances the conduction of heat away from the active region, which is where the heat is generated in active semiconductor components. This layer is placed so close to the optical region that it must also function as a waveguide and causes the active region to be nearly the same temperature as the ambient or heat sink. However, the semiconductor material itself should be as temperature insensitive as possible and therefore the invention combines a highly thermally conductive dielectric layer with improved semiconductor materials to achieve an overall package that offers improved thermal performance. The highly thermally conductive layer serves two basic functions. First, it provides a lower index material than the semiconductor device so that certain kinds of optical waveguides may be formed, e.g., a ridge waveguide. The second and most important function, as it relates to this invention, is that it provides a significantly higher thermal conductivity than the semiconductor material, which is the principal material in the fabrication of various optoelectronic devices.

Pump-probe quantum state tomography was applied to the transmission of a coherent state through an In(Ga)As based quantum dot opticalamplifier during the interaction with an optical pump pulse. The Wigner function and the statistical moments of the field were extracted and used to determine the degree of population inversion and the signal-to-noise ratio in a sub-picosecond time window. PMID:25607214

We measure the frequency-resolved noise figure of fiber optical parametric amplifiers both in phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive modes in the frequency range from 0.03 to 3 GHz. We also measure the variation in noise figure due to the degradation in pump optical signal to noise ratio and also as a function of the input signal powers. Noise figure degradation due to stimulated Brillouin scattering is observed. PMID:25402025

Pulse stability is crucial to the effective propagation of information in a soliton-based optical communication system. It is shown in this paper that pulses in optical fibers, for which attenuation is compensated by phase-sensitive amplifiers, are stable over a large range of parameter values. A fourth-order nonlinear diffusion model due to Kutz and co-workers is used. The stability proof invokes a number of mathematical techniques, including the Evans function and Grillakis' functional analytic approach.

Many optical applications depend on amplitude modulating optical beams using devices such as acousto-optical modulators (AOMs) or optical choppers. Methods to add amplitude modulation (AM) often inadvertently impart phase modulation (PM) onto the light as well. While this PM is of no consequence to many phase-insensitive applications, phase-sensitive processes can be affected. Here we study the effects of input phase and amplitude modulation on the output of a quantum-noise limited phase-sensitive opticalamplifier (PSA) realized in hot 85Rb vapor. We investigate the dependence of PM on AOM alignment and demonstrate a novel approach to quantifying PM by using the PSA as a diagnostic tool. We then use this method to measure the alignment-dependent PM of an optical chopper which arises due to diffraction effects as the chopper blade passes through the optical beam. PMID:27557263

In the present letter, the authors report on the realization of all-optical format conversion by using the cascaded sum- and difference-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide and the active mode locking in a reflective-semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based fiber ring laser. Tunable format conversions from nonreturn-to-zero pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) signal to return-to-zero PRBS idler at 10 and 20Gbit/s are observed in the experiment.

We report on ground and airborne methane measurements with an active sensing instrument using widely tunable, seeded optical parametric generation (OPG). The technique has been used to measure methane, CO2, water vapor, and other trace gases in the near and mid-infrared spectral regions. Methane is a strong greenhouse gas on Earth and it is also a potential biogenic marker on Mars and other planetary bodies. Methane in the Earth's atmosphere survives for a shorter time than CO2 but its impact on climate change can be larger than CO2. Carbon and methane emissions from land are expected to increase as permafrost melts exposing millennial-age carbon stocks to respiration (aerobic-CO2 and anaerobic-CH4) and fires. Methane emissions from c1athrates in the Arctic Ocean and on land are also likely to respond to climate warming. However, there is considerable uncertainty in present Arctic flux levels, as well as how fluxes will change with the changing environment. For Mars, methane measurements are of great interest because of its potential as a strong biogenic marker. A remote sensing instrument that can measure day and night over all seasons and latitudes can localize sources of biogenic gas plumes produced by subsurface chemistry or biology, and aid in the search for extra-terrestrial life. In this paper we report on remote sensing measurements of methane using a high peak power, widely tunable optical parametric generator (OPG) operating at 3.3 micrometers and 1.65 micrometers. We have demonstrated detection of methane at 3.3 micrometers and 1650 nanometers in an open path and compared them to accepted standards. We also report on preliminary airborne demonstration of methane measurements at 1.65 micrometers.

We report on ground and airborne methane measurements with an active sensing instrument using widely tunable, seeded optical parametric generation (OPG). The technique has been used to measure methane, CO2, water vapor, and other trace gases in the near and mid-infrared spectral regions. Methane is a strong greenhouse gas on Earth and it is also a potential biogenic marker on Mars and other planetary bodies. Methane in the Earth's atmosphere survives for a shorter time than CO2 but its impact on climate change can be larger than CO2. Carbon and methane emissions from land are expected to increase as permafrost melts exposing millennial-age carbon stocks to respiration (aerobic-CO2 and anaerobic-CH4) and fires. Methane emissions from clathrates in the Arctic Ocean and on land are also likely to respond to climate warming. However, there is considerable uncertainty in present Arctic flux levels, as well as how fluxes will change with the changing environment. For Mars, methane measurements are of great interest because of its potential as a strong biogenic marker. A remote sensing instrument that can measure day and night over all seasons and latitudes can localize sources of biogenic gas plumes produced by subsurface chemistry or biology, and aid in the search for extra-terrestrial life. In this paper we report on remote sensing measurements of methane using a high peak power, widely tunable optical parametric generator (OPG) operating at 3.3 um and 1.65 um. We have demonstrated detection of methane at 3.3 μm and 1650 nm in an open path and compared them to accepted standards. We also report on preliminary airborne demonstration of methane measurements at 1.65 um.

We propose a scheme of an opticalamplifier based on GaN and ZnO waveguides operating in the regime of strong coupling between photonic modes and excitonic resonances. Amplification of the guided exciton-polaritons is obtained by stimulated scattering from the excitonic reservoir, which is found to be fast enough compared with the large velocity of the guided polariton modes. We analyze the device parameters at different temperatures. We find that an 80 μm-long amplifier can provide a gain of 10 dB at room temperature, being supplied by 5 mA current in the cw regime.

Parameters of the optical parametric amplifier (OPA), based on two BBO crystals were studied. The OPA was made with the schematic of the extraordinary wave walk off compensation. Efficient amplification of the weak signal (λ = 1053 nm) in the field of the strong pumping wave (λ = 532 nm) was obtained. The measured value of the amplification was equal to ~106. The noise level of the parametric amplifier was less than 10‑3 from the signal level.

We propose and demonstrate that semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) for each wavelength of the input can be described by a lumped-elements sequence of a partly linear polarizer and a retarder followed by a polarization-independent amplifier, and further obtain two necessary conditions for the valuable orthogonal polarization rotation (OPR), which will be instructive for SOA-based all-optical signal processing. Subsequently we implement photoinduced OPR by controlling an approximately 2.5 mW pump laser and find the optimal pump wavelength should be an approximately 0.4 nm interval around the central wavelength of the probe laser. Therefore we propose a time-domain digital polarization encoding scheme based on photoinduced OPR with cross-gain modulation in a SOA and perform it well in a 15 km single-mode-fiber system at 2.5 Gbits/s, which is applicable to optical-power-equalized fiber communication. PMID:18794921

Trace gases in planetary atmospheres offer important clues as to the origins of the planet's hydrology, geology. atmosphere. and potential for biology. Wc report on the development effort of a nanosecond-pulsed optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for remote trace gas measurements for Mars and Earth. The OP A output light is single frequency with high spectral purity and is widely tunable both at 1600 nm and 3300 nm with an optical-optical conversion efficiency of approximately 40%. We demonstrated open-path atmospheric measurements ofCH4 (3291 nm and 1651 nm). CO2 (1573 nm), H20 (1652 nm) with this laser source.

All-optical manipulation of signals carried by lightwaves is attractive because controlling the light directly can be more efficient, allows a multitude of signal formats, and can also prove most cost effective. We implemented a novel scheme for ultrafast optical switching using very small control energy that relies on the use of a saturated fiber-optic parametric amplifier. Approximately 19 aJ (150 photons) of control pulse energy was needed for 50% extinction of the signal which is three to four orders of magnitude smaller than in other all-optical switching demonstrations. This allows the consideration of novel practical approaches to implement all-optical switching devices and all-optical subsystems for telecommunications and other applications. PMID:18648409

We report on a high gain amplification of broadband ultraviolet femtosecond pulses in an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier. Broadband ultraviolet seed pulses were obtained by an achromatic frequency doubling of the output from a femtosecond Ti:Sapphire oscillator. Stretched seed pulses were amplified in a multipass parametric amplifier with a single BBO crystal pumped by a ns frequency quadrupled Nd:YAG laser. A noncollinear configuration was used for a broadband amplification. The total (after compression) amplification of 2.510(5) was achieved, with compressed pulse energy of 30 microJ and pulse duration of 24 fs. We found that the measured gain was limited by thermal effects induced by the absorption of the pump laser by color centers created in the BBO crystal. PMID:20588633

A conceptual design of a high power, ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) was carried out comparing nonlinear crystals (LBO and BBO) for 810 nm centered, sub-7.0 fs pulses with energies above 1 mJ. These amplifiers are only possible with a parallel development of kilowatt-level OPCPA-pump amplifiers. It is therefore important to know good strategies to use the available OPCPA-pump energy efficiently. Numerical simulations, including self- and cross-phase modulation, were used to investigate the critical parameters to achieve sufficient spectral and spatial quality. At high output powers, thermal absorption in the nonlinear crystals starts to degrade the output beam quality. Strategies to minimize thermal effects and limits to the maximum average power are discussed. PMID:24515165

High repetition rate free-electron lasers (FEL), producing highly intense extreme ultraviolet and x-ray pulses, require new high power tunable femtosecond lasers for FEL seeding and FEL pump-probe experiments. A tunable, 112 W (burst mode) optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) is demonstrated with center frequencies ranging from 720–900 nm, pulse energies up to 1.12 mJ and a pulse duration of 30 fs at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. Since the power scalability of this OPCPA is limited by the OPCPA-pump amplifier, we also demonstrate a 6.7–13.7 kW (burst mode) thin-disk OPCPA-pump amplifier, increasing the possible OPCPA output power to many hundreds of watts. Furthermore, third and fourth harmonic generation experiments are performed and the results are used to simulate a seeded FEL with high-gain harmonic generation.

We propose a method to realize frequency up-conversion of UWB monocycle pulse using pulsed-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The spectrum of the amplified signal contains many discrete frequency components which are separated by the modulation frequency of the pump. Each frequency components contain the same spectral information as that of the original signal. By selecting the first-order or higher-order frequency components of the amplified signal and beating in the photodetector, up-converted signal at different frequencies are obtained. We demonstrate frequency up-conversion of baseband UWB monocycle pulse from 3-GHz to 19-GHz in the experiment and frequency up-conversion of pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) signal from 3-GHz to 60-GHz in the simulation.

Gain transients can severely hamper the upstream network performance in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) access networks featuring erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) or Raman amplification. We experimentally demonstrate for the first time using 10 Gb/s fiber transmission bit error rate measurements how a near-saturated semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) can be used to control these gain transients. An SOA is shown to reduce the penalty of transients originating in an EDFA from 2.3 dB to 0.2 dB for 10 Gb/s transmission over standard single mode fiber using a 2 31-1 PRBS pattern. The results suggest that a single SOA integrated within a WDM receiver at the metro node could offer a convenient all-optical solution for upstream transient control in WDM access networks.

For the first time, a novel net gain analytical model of EDFA-Raman hybrid opticalamplifier (HOA) is designed and optimized the various parameters using genetic algorithm. Our method has shown to be robust in the simultaneous analysis of multiple parameters, such as Raman length, EDFA length and its pump powers, to obtained highest possible gain. The optimized HOA is further investigated and characterized on system level in the scenario of 100×10 Gbps dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) system with 25 GHz interval. With an optimized HOA, a flat gain of >18 dB is obtained from frequency region 187 to 189.5 THz with a gain variation of less than 1.35 dB without using any gain flattened technique. The obtained noise figure is also the lowest value (<2 dB/channel) ever reported for proposed hybrid opticalamplifier at reduced channel spacing with acceptable bit error rate.

We consider a system consisting of N nondegenerate optical parametric amplifiers (NOPAs) operating below threshold and linked with each other in a cascading way, each taking the output subharmonic fields from the previous one as the input fields. The entanglement properties of the subharmonic fields from these cascading nondegenerate optical parametric amplifiers (CNOPAs) are investigated. We find that, if the input subharmonic fields of the first NOPA in the cascading line are in the vacuum state, the output fields from the later NOPAs exhibit excellent broadband entanglement, and the entanglement frequency band is broadened notably with increased number of cascading NOPAs. We also discuss the application of the entangled light generated from the CNOPAs to broadband teleportation, and find that the maximum width of the fidelity spectrum of teleportation of broadband coherent states can be greatly broadened.

Boeing, in collaboration with Los Alamos and STI Optronics, is embarking on a program to build and operate the Average Power Laser Experiment (APLE) to demonstrate the high power capability of free-electron lasers at a wavelength of 10 μm. The experiment utilizes the single-accelerator, master-oscillator, power-amplifier (SAMOPA) approach. The performance of the power amplifier stage, as calculated by the time-dependent 3D FELEX code, is presented. The SAMOPA concept has important advantages in terms of excellent electron trapping fraction and remarkable insensitivity to slippage, input optical power, and detuning from resonance, but key requirements are placed on the e-beam peak current and emittance and on the allowable induced energy spread in the oscillator stage. Optical design tradeoffs between strong guiding and power extraction are described and a complete evaluation of the performance sensitivity to various error sources and misalignments is presented.

A scheme to generate entanglement in a cavity optomechanical system filled with an optical parametric amplifier is proposed. With the help of the optical parametric amplifier, the stationary macroscopic entanglement between the movable mirror and the cavity field can be notably enhanced, and the entanglement increases when the parametric gain increases. Moreover, for a given parametric gain, the degree of entanglement of the cavity optomechanical system increases with increasing input laser power. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11247001), the Scientific Research Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Anhui Province, China (Grant No. KJ2012A083), and the Doctor (Master) Fund of Anhui University of Science and Technology, China.

An organic dye (Rhodamine B) doped polymer optical fiber amplifier (POFA) of the graded- index (GI) type was successfully prepared for the first time. The GI-POFA of only 500 mm in length gave 27 dB in gain at 591 nm of signal wavelength. Additionally, absorption cross section and emission cross section of Rhodamine B in PMMA matrix were estimated, which were required to analyze amplification mechanism in the POFA.

We demonstrate a wide tuning range high-speed wavelength-swept semiconductor laser based on a polygon scanning filter that is common to two laser cavities. Linear wavelength tuning was achieved over 145 nm around 1310 nm at a tuning repetition rate of 20 kHz. The wavelength tuning filter is expandable to accommodate multiple semiconductor opticalamplifiers for further widening of the laser wavelength tuning range. PMID:20651947

A continuously tunable microwave photonic (MWP) phase shifter based on birefringence effects in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) is presented and the theoretical fundamentals of the design are explained. This proposed device provides a high efficiency phase-shift tuning range beyond 2π rad by controlling the SOA launch power. A prototype of the MWP phase shifter with a frequency of 10 GHz and 2π rad tuning range is experimentally demonstrated. PMID:23988932

The authors have fabricated ridge waveguide pseudomorphic InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs GRIN-SCH SQW (graded-index separate-confinement-heterostructure single-quantum-well) lasers, emitting at 980 nm, with a maximum output power of 240 mW from one facet and a 22 percent coupling efficiency into a 1.55-micron single-mode optical fiber. These lasers satisfy the requirements on efficient and compact pump sources for Er3+-doped fiber amplifiers.

In this Letter, a design for a tapered InAs/InGaAs quantum dot semiconductor opticalamplifier is proposed and experimentally evaluated. The amplifier's geometry was optimized in order to reduce gain saturation effects and improve gain efficiency and beam quality. The experimental measurements confirm that the proposed amplifier allows for an elevated optical gain in the saturation regime, whereas a five-fold increase in the coupling efficiency to a standard single mode optical fiber is observed, due to the improvement in the beam quality factor M² of the emitted beam. PMID:23939062

We theoretically investigate the phase recovery acceleration of quantum-dot (QD) semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) by means of the optical pump injection to the quantum-well (QW) wetting layer (WL). We compare the ultrafast gain and phase recovery responses of QD SOAs in either the electrical or the optical pumping scheme by numerically solving 1088 coupled rate equations. The ultrafast gain recovery responses on the order of sub-picosecond are nearly the same for the two pumping schemes. The ultrafast phase recovery is not significantly accelerated by increasing the electrical current density, but greatly improved by increasing the optical pumping power to the QW WL. Because the phase recovery time of QD SOAs with the optical pumping scheme can be reduced down to several picoseconds, the complete phase recovery can be achieved when consecutive pulse signals with a repetition rate of 100 GHz is injected.

An optical transport network based on dense wavelength - division multiplexing DWDM technology is the next logical step in the evolution of Internet network. An Optical Internet network is defined as any Internet network where the network link layer connections are "dedicated" wavelengths on a Wave Division Multiplexed optical fibre directly connected to a high performance network router. The high performance network router replaces traditional ATM and SONET/SDH switching and multiplexing equipment, the essential statistical multiplexing device that controls wavelength access, switching, routing and protection. The opticalamplifier is the key element that contributes to design an Optical Internet network. The design of an optical component and in particular an opticalamplifier can directly and significantly affect the performance of an optical system. With the help of PTDS toll I will demonstrate the advantage of using L - band amplifiers especially for long - haul terrestrial or submarine DWDM systems in which thousands of amplifiers might be needed in a single transmission link. This is due to the exceptional feature that permits in a cascade configuration a very flat gain. It is demonstrated that L -band amplifier doesn"t require a gain-flattening fiber (GFF) compared to C -band amplifiers.

A high efficiency, tunable, carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stabilized near-infrared optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is demonstrated with just a single BBO crystal. A white-light continuum produced by a CEP-stabilized laser is seeded into the two stages of the type II OPA system. We achieved a pump-to-signal conversion efficiency of 34% with a single nonlinear crystal. To our knowledge this is the highest conversion efficiency reported in broadband optical parametric amplification, using the two stages. This work demonstrates a compact way to for tunable femtosecond pulses with CEP stabilization.

We have proposed a stable, wideband, and tunable directly modulated fiber ring laser (TDMFRL) by using a reflective semiconductor opticalamplifier (RSOA) and an optical tunable filter (OTF). For use in a bidirectional access network, the TDMFRL not only generates downstream data traffic but also serves as the wavelength-selecting injection light source for the Fabry-Pérot laser diode (FP-LD) located at the subscriber site. We experimentally demonstrated a bidirectional transmission at 1.25-Gb/s direct modulation over a 25-km single-mode fiber (SMF), thereby showing good performance in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) access network. PMID:20721147

A 1064 nm laser is commonly used for biological optical trapping. However, it has the problem of generating reactive oxygen species in the presence of a sensitizer, which leads to photo damage in biological samples. Here we constructed optical tweezers using a tapered amplifier diode laser that operates at 830 nm. Compared to a 1064 nm laser, this laser is friendly to live cells, eliminates photo damage associated with reactive oxygen species, and allows simultaneous two-photon fluorescence imaging of green fluorescent proteins in live mammalian cells. All these advantages could significantly benefit future application of this single molecule technique in biological studies. PMID:20808392

We propose and demonstrate a technique to generate low-noise broadly tunable single-side-band microwaves using cascaded semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) using no RF bias. The proposed technique uses no RF components and is based on polarization-state controlled gain-induced four-wave mixing in SOAs. Microwave generation from 40 to 875 GHz with a line-width ~22 KHz is experimentally demonstrated. PMID:24322069

This report is an extension of earlier work (Part 1) which provided practical adaptive techniques for the efficient noiseless coding of a broad class of data sources characterized by only partially known and varying statistics (JPL Publication 79-22). The results here, while still claiming such general applicability, focus primarily on the noiseless coding of image data. A fairly complete and self-contained treatment is provided. Particular emphasis is given to the requirements of the forthcoming Voyager II encounters of Uranus and Neptune. Performance evaluations are supported both graphically and pictorially. Expanded definitions of the algorithms in Part 1 yield a computationally improved set of options for applications requiring efficient performance at entropies above 4 bits/sample. These expanded definitions include as an important subset, a somewhat less efficient but extremely simple "FAST' compressor which will be used at the Voyager Uranus encounter. Additionally, options are provided which enhance performance when atypical data spikes may be present.

Supercontinuum generation in a highly nonlinear fiber pumped by noise-like pulses from an erbium-doped fiber ring laser is investigated. To generate ultrabroad spectra, a fiber amplifier is used to boost the power launched into the highly nonlinear fiber. After amplification, not only the average power of the noise-like pulses is enhanced but the spectrum of the pulses is also broadened due to nonlinear effects in the fiber amplifier. This leads to a reduction of the peak duration in their autocorrelation trace, suggesting a similar extent of pulse compression; by contrast, the pedestal duration increases only slightly, suggesting that the noise-like characteristic is maintained. By controlling the pump power of the fiber amplifier, the compression ratio of the noise-like pulse duration can be adjusted. Due to the pulse compression, supercontinuum generation with a broader spectrum is therefore feasible at a given average power level of the noise-like pulses launched into the highly nonlinear fiber. As a result, supercontinuum generation with an optical spectrum spanning from 1208 to 2111 nm is achieved using a 1-m nonlinear fiber pumped by amplified noise-like pulses of 15.5 MHz repetition rate at an average power of 202 mW. PMID:24663739

We experimentally demonstrated a multiwavelength, line-rate independent optical digital cross-connect system (DCS) by using cascaded low-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifiers as the switching elements in a dilated Benes architecture.

We numerically investigate the influence of the optical pumping wavelength on the ultrafast gain and phase recovery acceleration of quantum-dot (QD) semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) by solving 1088 coupled rate equations. The temporal variations of the gain and phase recovery response at the ground state (GS) of QDs are calculated at various signal wavelengths when the optical pumping wavelengths at the excited state (ES) of QDs are varied. The phase recovery response is fastest when the wavelength of the signal and pumping beams corresponds to the respective emission wavelength of the GS and the ES in the same size of QDs. The absorption efficiency of the optical pumping beam at the ES is determined by the Lorentzian line shape function of the homogeneous broadening.

In this paper, the semiconductor opticalamplifier is analyzed for in-line and pre-amplifier for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission having minimum crosstalk and power penalty with sufficient gain. It is evaluated that the cross gain saturation of the SOA can be reduced by settling crosstalk at lower level and also minimizing the power penalty by slight increase in the confinement factor. At an optimal confinement factor of 0.41069, high amplification is obtained up to saturation power of 20.804 mW. For this confinement factor, low crosstalk of -9.63 dB and amplified spontaneous emission noise power of 119.4 μW are obtained for -15 dBm input signal. It has been demonstrated for the first time that twenty channels at 10 Gb/s WDM can transmit up to 5600 km by use of this optimization. In this, cascading of in-line SOA is done at the span of 70 km for return zero differential phase shift keying modulation format with the channel spacing of 100 GHz. The optical power spectrum and clear eye are observed at the transmission distance of 4340 and 5600 km in RZ-DPSK system. The bit error rate for all channels increases more than 10 -10 with the increase in launched input power.

Since it was noted that quantum computers could break public key cryptosystems based on number theory, extensive studies have been undertaken on quantum cryptography, which offers unconditionally secure communication based on quantum mechanics. We investigate a quantum key distribution (QKD) scheme using macroscopic coherent light with optically pre-amplified direct differential detection. A transmitter “Alice” sends a series of two macroscopic nonorthogonal coherent states that partially overlap due to quantum noise. A receiver “Bob” amplifies and receives it with direct differential detection followed by a thresholding process. To avoid difficulties in detection, our scheme uses conventional direct differential photodetection, not single-photon detection or homodyne detection as in previous QKD protocols. System performance assuming some eavesdropping is evaluated, the results of which suggest that our scheme is usable for short or medium distance.

We report the first experimental evidence of enhancement of self-amplified spontaneous emission, due to the use of an optical klystron. In this free-electron laser scheme, a relativistic electron beam passes through two undulators, separated by a dispersive section. The latter converts the electron-beam energy modulation produced in the first undulator in density modulation, thus enhancing the free-electron laser gain. The experiment has been carried out at the FERMI facility in Trieste. Powerful radiation has been produced in the extreme ultraviolet range, with an intensity a few orders of magnitude larger than in pure self-amplified spontaneous emission mode. Data have been benchmarked with an existing theoretical model. PMID:25615469

We report the first experimental evidence of enhancement of self-amplified spontaneous emission, due to the use of an optical klystron. In this free-electron laser scheme, a relativistic electron beam passes through two undulators, separated by a dispersive section. The latter converts the electron-beam energy modulation produced in the first undulator in density modulation, thus enhancing the free-electron laser gain. The experiment has been carried out at the FERMI facility in Trieste. Powerful radiation has been produced in the extreme ultraviolet range, with an intensity a few orders of magnitude larger than in pure self-amplified spontaneous emission mode. Data have been benchmarked with an existing theoretical model.

The design and experimental measurements are described of an optically pumped far-infrared (FIR) waveguide maser; preliminary measurements on a FIR waveguide amplifier are presented. The FIR maser was found to operate satisfactorily in a chopped CW mode using either methanol (CH3OH) or acetonitrile (CH3CN) as the active molecule. Two other gases, difluoroethane and difluoroethylene, produced an unstable output with high threshold and low output power when operated in the chopped CW mode. Experimental measurements include FIR output versus cavity length, output beam pattern, output power versus pressure, and input power. The FIR output was the input to an amplifier which was constructed similar to the oscillator. An increase of 10% in output power was noted on the 118.8 microns line of methanol.

We analytically explore a wide class of optical similariton solutions to the nonlinear Schroedinger equation appropriately modified to model beam propagation in a tapered, graded-index nonlinear-fiber amplifier with an external source. Under certain physical conditions, we reduce the coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations to a single-wave equation that aptly describes similariton propagation through asymmetric twin-core fiber amplifiers. The asymmetric twin-core fiber is composed of two adjoining, closely spaced, single-mode fibers in which the active one is a tapered, graded-index nonlinear-fiber and the passive one is a step-index fiber. We obtain these self-similar waves for different choices of tapered index profile, using a Moebius transformation. Our procedure is applicable for both self-focusing and self-defocusing nonlinearities.

We present a broadband optical parametric amplifier design using tapered gain and tandem chirped quasi-phase-matching gratings to obtain flat gain and group-delay spectra suitable for applications such as ultrashort-pulse amplification and fiber-optic communication systems. Although a tapered-gain amplifier consisting of a single chirped grating can provide constant gain over a wide frequency range, it cannot be used to control the group delay across the spectrum. We propose controlling both the gain and the group delay profiles using a two-stage amplifier configuration, in which the idler of the first is used as the input signal of the second. PMID:15792000

The amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from concatenated erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) in a 10 Gb / s 500 km soliton transmission system has been successfully reduced through the use of a nonlinear amplifying-loop mirror (NALM). By using the NALM the ratio of the signal peak to ASE was improved from 17.4:1 to 24.9:1. A similar result was obtained for a nonlinear optical-loop mirror (NOLM) with a 6:4 directional coupler. It is noted that pulse transmission through the NALM or the NOLM gives rise to frequency chirp, which means that these fiber devices are not appropriate for use at the midpoint of a long-distance soliton transmission. The chirp characteristics caused by the NALM were also described and the optimum condition for nonlinear switching was obtained.

Tunable delays in semiconductor opticalamplifiers are achieved via four wave mixing between a strong pump beam and a modulated probe beam. The delay of the probe beam can be controlled both electrically, by changing the SOA bias, and optically, by varying the pump power or the pump-probe detuning. For sinusoidal modulated signal at 0.5 GHz, a tunable delay of 1.6 ns is achieved. This corresponds to a RF phase change of 1.6 pi. For 1.3 ns optical pulses propagating through the SOA a delay of 0.59 ns is achieved corresponding to a delay-bandwidth product exceeding 0.45. For both the cases, slow light and superluminal light are observed as the pump-probe detuning is varied. PMID:19532190

A new receiver is proposed, which uses the fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) in optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) over free space optic (FSO) communication system. The noise tolerance as the performance index in this receiver is derived. The receiver can not only improve the noise tolerance but also change the pump data conveniently for adapting to the length variation of the coding sequence under a complex and fast-changing weather condition. The influence of different factors on the noise tolerance is analyzed, and a significant improvement of about 18.77 dB for the noise tolerance can be achieved when the pump power and the length of coding sequence are 5 W and 256, respectively.

A broadband dispersion-compensating dual-mode optical fiber with a double-layer profile core is proposed to compensate for positive dispersion in conventional single-mode optical fibers operating near 1.55 {mu}m. This wavelength band is suitable for erbium-doped-fiber-amplified systems. It is known that the first higher-order mode of dual-mode fibers exhibits large negative waveguide dispersion, and double-layer profile core fibers are dispersion-shifted fibers whose transmission and bending losses are lower than those of simple core-cladding dispersion-shifted fibers. Such advantages are attractive for commercial devices or modules. Here, a dispersion-compensating dual-mode fiber with a double-layer profile core that satisfies both low bending loss and broadband dispersion compensation is proposed. {copyright} 2001 Optical Society of America

Semiconductor opticalamplifiers are important for wide range of applications including optical networks, optical tomography and optical logic systems. For many of these applications particularly for optical networks and optical logic high speed performance of the SOA is important. The speed of operation of SOA is limited by the gain and phase recovery times in the SOA. We have demonstrated higher speed operation (i) for SOAs with a carrier reservoir layer, (ii) for SOAs with a multi-quantum well modulation doped active region, and, (iii) for SOAs with a quantum dot (QD) active region. The multi-quantum well SOA has been integrated with InGaAsP/InP based waveguides to build Mach- Zehnder interferometers (MZI). XOR optical logic has been demonstrated at 80 Gb/s using these SOA-MZI structures. XOR operation has been analyzed by solving the rate equation of the SOA, for SOAs with both regular and QD active region. Mach-Zehnder interferometers fabricated using SOA with quantum dot active region (QD-SOA) can be used for XOR operation at 250 Gb/s. Pseudo random bit stream (PRBS) generation using both regular and QD-SOA have been studied and their performance modeled. The model shows QD-SOA based devices can be used to produce PRBS generators that operate near 250 Gb/s.

Optical techniques based on photon migration are rapidly emerging as a promising alternative and/or augmentation of existing medical imaging modalities. For example, real time studies of hemodynamic changes in brain tissue are possible as a step towards optical functional brain imaging. Time-resolved implementations of these techniques allow for discrimination between scattering and absorption and for depth resolution. They require sub-nanosecond pulsed light sources with high repetition rate and sufficient power for deep enough tissue penetration. Picosecond diode lasers satisfy the clinical demands of economy, compact size, and reliability almost perfectly. Today multi-channel diode laser devices are commercially available and are widely used in diffuse optical imaging and spectroscopy, in particular in optical tomography and breast cancer detection. However, the output powers of these devices are just about sufficient for moderate tissue penetration depths. An improvement that does not compromise the advantages of the diode laser sources is amplification of the diode laser output by means of solid state tapered amplifiers. We present an amplified light source for use in NIR diffuse optical spectroscopy and imaging, providing pulse widths as short as 100 ps, adjustable repetition rates up to 80 MHz, and peak power levels as high as 7 Watts, corresponding to average power levels exceeding 100 mW. In combination with time-resolved photon counting electronics matching the high throughput demands in conjunction with the new source, state-of-the-art systems for diffuse optical imaging can be built. System design features and possible application examples are presented.

Free-electron laser amplifiers have been operated at high efficiency at wavelengths from the microwave through the visible. Typically, these amplifiers require long tapered sections and produce spent beams with large energy spreads that are 4-5 times the electronic efficiency. In addition, while optical guiding during exponential growth in the uniform wiggler section confines the optical mode, the guiding disappears in the tapered wiggler section resulting in a relatively large optical mode at the wiggler exit. Optical klystrons consist of a Modulator wiggler that induces a velocity modulation on the electron beam followed by a magnetic dispersive section that enhances the velocity modulation prior to injection into a second, radiator wiggler. Optical klystrons have been operated over a broad spectral range; however, no optical klystron has been built with a tapered radiator wiggler. A comparison between a optical klystron with a step-tapered Radiator wiggler and a conventional tapered wiggler amplifier is analyzed in this paper. The purpose of the step taper is to both enhance the efficiency and to extend the range of the exponential gain and so preserve the optical guiding over a longer interaction length. The step-tapered optical klystron and a tapered wiggler amplifier are compared for a nominal set of parameters to determine the differences in the efficiency, interaction length, spent beam energy spread, and the size of the optical mode at the wiggler exit.

The fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) has been well investigated and widely adopted at the telecommunication window, and outstanding progress has been achieved in areas such as high gain, wide bandwidths, and even flexible gain-spectrum shape. In contrast, a FOPA at the bio-favorable window, 1.0 μm, has been largely underexploited, especially for its relatively limited bandwidth. Here, we demonstrate an all-fiber single-pump FOPA at 1.0 μm with versatile performances, including ultrahigh gain (∼52 dB), wide bandwidth (∼110 nm), and good gain-spectrum flatness (∼3 dB). To showcase the practical applications, the FOPA is utilized to amplify the broadband optical image signal from a spectrally encoded microscopy, yielding a sensitivity enhancement of 47 dB. Thus, it is promising that this all-fiber versatile FOPA works well as an add-on module in boosting sensitivity for existing optical systems at a 1.0 μm window. PMID:26368719

Submonolayer quantum dots as active medium in opto-electronic devices promise to combine the high density of states of quantum wells with the fast recovery dynamics of self-assembled quantum dots. We investigate the gain and phase recovery dynamics of a semiconductor opticalamplifier based on InAs submonolayer quantum dots in the regime of linear operation by one- and two-color heterodyne pump-probe spectroscopy. We find an as fast recovery dynamics as for quantum dot-in-a-well structures, reaching 2 ps at moderate injection currents. The effective quantum well embedding the submonolayer quantum dots acts as a fast and efficient carrier reservoir.

The broadband passive optical network (BPON) has the ability to support high-speed data, voice, and video services to home and small businesses customers. In this work, the performance of bi-directional BPON is analyzed for both down and up streams traffic cases by the help of erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The importance of BPON is reduced cost. Because PBON uses a splitter the cost of the maintenance between the providers and the customers side is suitable. In the proposed research, BPON has been tested by the use of bit error rate (BER) analyzer. BER analyzer realizes maximum Q factor, minimum bit error rate, and eye height.

We characterize spatiotemporal aberrations induced in noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers (NOPAs), for the first time (to our knowledge), using spatially resolved spectral interferometry. Measurements show that when the submillimeter pump and signal beams are not correctly aligned, several degrees of pulse-front tilt caused by angular dispersion are introduced by the NOPA angular-dependent gain, without significant loss of bandwidth. After eliminating the pulse-front tilt, analysis of the residual higher-order aberrations shows that far-field intensities reaching 80% of the theoretical limit can be achieved without complex spatiospectral phase optimization.

A particularly simple setup is introduced to study the influence of time-delayed coherent feedback on the optical squeezing properties of the degenerate parametric amplifier. The possibility for significantly enhanced squeezing is demonstrated both on resonance and in sidebands, at a reduced pump power compared to the case without feedback. We study a broad range of operating parameters and their influence on the characteristic squeezing of the system. A classical analysis of the system dynamics reveals the connection between the feedback-modified landscape of stability and enhanced squeezing.

We constructed an optical parametric amplifier with BiBO crystals, which was injection seeded by a phase-modulated cw beam in the 1,040-1,070 nm region. Two-stage pre-amplification by Yb-doped fibers were implemented for stable injection to the OPA. The frequency chirp in the OPA pulse was actively controlled by adjusting the RF wave for the phase modulation and its synchronization to the OPA firing. Down/up chirps with up to 500 MHz shift were demonstrated. The output pulse energy was ~40 mJ, which is sufficient for future application of frequency conversion and coherent population transfer. PMID:23482098

Two methods using a laser-diode tapered amplifier to produce high-power, high-efficiency optical frequency sidebands over a wide tunable frequency range are studied and compared. For a total output of 500 mW at 811 nm, 20% of the power can be placed in each of the first-order sidebands. Functionality and characterization are presented within the sideband frequency region of 0.8–2.3 GHz, and it is shown that both methods can be applied beyond this frequency range. These methods provide a versatile and effective tool for atomic physics experiments.

Two methods using a laser-diode tapered amplifier to produce high-power, high-efficiency optical frequency sidebands over a wide tunable frequency range are studied and compared. For a total output of 500 mW at 811 nm, 20% of the power can be placed in each of the first-order sidebands. Functionality and characterization are presented within the sideband frequency region of 0.8-2.3 GHz, and it is shown that both methods can be applied beyond this frequency range. These methods provide a versatile and effective tool for atomic physics experiments. PMID:24784682

Two methods using a laser-diode tapered amplifier to produce high-power, high-efficiency optical frequency sidebands over a wide tunable frequency range are studied and compared. For a total output of 500 mW at 811 nm, 20% of the power can be placed in each of the first-order sidebands. Functionality and characterization are presented within the sideband frequency region of 0.8-2.3 GHz, and it is shown that both methods can be applied beyond this frequency range. These methods provide a versatile and effective tool for atomic physics experiments.

We theoretically and experimentally compare the performance of two fully tunable phase shifter structures based on semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA) by means of several figures of merit common to microwave photonic systems. A single SOA stage followed by a tailored notch filter is compared with a cascaded implementation comprising three SOA-based phase shifter stages. Attention is focused on the assessment of the RF net gain, noise figure and nonlinear distortion. Recommendations on the performance optimization of this sort of approaches are detailed. PMID:22565677

A wavelength-division-multiplexed distributed optical fiber amplifier bus network was constructed, using five 150-m sections of lightly doped Er fiber to provide signal amplification and four 1 x 2 directional couplers to tap the signal to four Bragg reflectors. The performance of the bus network was studied at different signal wavelengths, and the network topology suitable for simultaneous transmission of data and wavelength multiplexing of sensors was considered. Such an approach can increase the use of fiber-based local-area networks in intelligent (smart) structures.

Deeply saturated fiber optic parametric amplifiers can have very high performance. While it's a common practice to model the fiber as a longitudinally homogenous entity, we show that the inhomogeneous nature of the fiber leads to a greater performance level which is neither accessible nor accountable using the homogenous model. This indicates that some experimental results cannot be predicted using the homogenous fiber model, even in principle. Consequently, future studies on the performance limit of the system will have to include an inhomogeneous fiber model. PMID:25402022

An exhausted capacity of current Passive Optical Networks has been anticipated as bandwidth-hungry applications such as HDTV and 3D video become available to end-users. To enhance their performance, the next generation optical access networks have been proposed, using optical carriers allocated within the E-band (1360-1460 nm). It is partly motivated by the low-water peak fiber being manufactured by Corning. At these wavelengths, choices for low cost opticalamplifiers, with compact size, low energy consumption and feasibility for integration with other optoelectronic components are limited, making the semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA) a realistic solution. An experimental characterization of a broadband and low polarization sensitive asymmetric multi quantum well (MQW) SOA operating in the E-band is reported. The SOA device is composed of nine 6 nm In1-xGaxAsyP1-y 0.2% tensile strained asymmetric MQW layers sandwiched between nine latticed matched 6 nm InGaAsP barrier layers. The active region is grown on an n-doped InP substrate and buried by p-doped InGaAsP layers. The SOA devices have 7-degrees tilt anti-reflected coated facets, with 2 μm ridge width, and a cavity length of 900 μm. For input powers of -10 dBm and -20 dBm, a maximum gain of 20 dB at 1360 nm with a polarization insensitivity under 3 dB for over 90 nm bandwidth is measured. Polarization sensitivity of less than 0.5 dB is observed for some wavelengths. Obtained results indicate a promising SOA with broadband amplification, polarization insensitivity and high gain. These SOAs were designed and characterized at the Photonics Technology Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Canada.

In the first half of the thesis, we investigated methods of controlling the group velocity of an optical probe pulse by another optical pulse. We focused on the gain linecenter region of an opticalamplifier where group velocity can be very small due to the large dispersion. We made use of an optically pumped barium nitrate (Ba(NO3)2) Raman crystal to delay a probe pulse which is tuned to the Raman gain center, and measured the delay time as a function of pump pulse intensity. Within the intensity region where no significant amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) occurs, we observed pulse delays greater than the input pulse width and obtained predictions based on quasi-steady state Raman gain estimates. We also theoretically studied group velocity control in an optically pumped far-infrared (OPFIR) molecular gas amplifier system, where even larger group velocity reductions are expected due to the extremely narrow low-pressure gain linewidth. By using a 5-level model of a molecular gas, the change of group velocity was calculated as a function of pump beam intensity and gas pressure, and a minimum achievable value of the group velocity was estimated. Furthermore, the effect of static electric field was studied, where the selection rule-dependent level splitting by the DC Stark effect alters the gain lineshape, and hence the group velocity. In the second half, we experimentally and theoretically studied the emission characteristics from a novel random laser system where scattering power can be controlled by temperature. Our system is a laser dye-dissolved aqueous solution of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) which has a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at ˜41°C. When pumped with optical pulses, this system exhibits drastic spectral narrowing of emission with increasing temperature. A numerical calculation was performed by using a ring laser model developed for non-coherent random laser system, and the results were compared with the experimental linewidth vs

High repetition rate free-electron lasers (FEL), producing highly intense extreme ultraviolet and x-ray pulses, require new high power tunable femtosecond lasers for FEL seeding and FEL pump-probe experiments. A tunable, 112 W (burst mode) optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) is demonstrated with center frequencies ranging from 720–900 nm, pulse energies up to 1.12 mJ and a pulse duration of 30 fs at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. Since the power scalability of this OPCPA is limited by the OPCPA-pump amplifier, we also demonstrate a 6.7–13.7 kW (burst mode) thin-disk OPCPA-pump amplifier, increasing the possible OPCPA output power to manymore » hundreds of watts. Furthermore, third and fourth harmonic generation experiments are performed and the results are used to simulate a seeded FEL with high-gain harmonic generation.« less

Broadband sources (BBSs) are commonly used in a wide range of applications in optical communication systems and biophotonics. They are particularly useful tools for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which is a biomedical imaging technique that uses low-coherence light sources. In order to obtain high image quality, we have developed a novel, spectrally-flat S+C+L band source with > 120 nm bandwidth and more than 4 mW output power based on two cascaded semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA) mixed with an Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) amplifier. Bandwidth and output power improvements are achieved by modifying the former configuration and mixing the EDF with the first SOA before amplification in the second SOA. This configuration results in bandwidth and output power enhancements of up to 146 nm and 8 mW, respectively. The source was then tested in an OCT system. It gives a 10 μm FWHM, low sidelobe OCT autocorrelation trace. Images and OCT autocorrelation traces were compared for the two aforementioned (which two; you mentioned one?) configurations. Images of miscellaneous samples made with the BBS show an image aspect and sharpness that is comparable with more expensive sources such as Ti:Sapphire lasers.

Short-range interconnection and/or data center networks require high capacity and a large number of channels in order to support numerous connections. Solutions employed to meet these requirements involve the use of alternative wavebands to increase the usable optical frequency range. We recently proposed the use of the T- and O-bands (Thousand band: 1000-1260 nm, Original band: 1260-1360 nm) as alternative wavebands because large optical frequency resources (>60 THz) can be easily employed. In addition, a simple and compact Gb/s-order high-speed optical modulator is a critical photonic device for short-range communications. Therefore, to develop an optical modulator that acts as a highfunctional photonic device, we focused on the use of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) as a three-dimensional (3D) confined structure because QD structures are highly suitable for realizing broadband optical gain media in the T+O bands. In this study, we use the high-quality broadband QD optical gain to develop a monolithically integrated QD optical gain modulator (QD-OGM) device that has a semiconductor opticalamplifier (QD-SOA) for Gb/s-order highspeed optical data generation in the 1.3-μm waveband. The insertion loss of the device can be compensated through the SOA, and we obtained an optical gain change of up to ~7 dB in the OGM section. Further, we successfully demonstrate a 10-Gb/s clear eye opening using the QD-OGM/SOA device with a clock-data recovery sequence at the receiver end. These results suggest that the monolithic QD-EOM/SOA is suitable for increasing the number of wavelength channels for smart short-range communications.

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) is a scalable technology, for ultrashort pulse amplification. Its major advantages include design simplicity, broad bandwidth, tunability, low B-integral, high contrast, and high beam quality. OPCPA is suitable both for scaling to high peak power as well as high average power. We describe the amplification of stretched 100 fs oscillator pulses in a three-stage OPCPA system pumped by a commercial, single-longitudinal-mode, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The stretched pulses were centered around 1054 nm with a FWHM bandwidth of 16.5 nm and had an energy of 0.5 nJ. Using our OPCPA system, we obtained an amplified pulse energy of up to 31 mJ at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The overall conversion efficiency from pump to signal is 6%, which is the highest efficiency obtained With a commercial tabletop pump laser to date. The overall conversion efficiency is limited due to the finite temporal overlap of the seed (3 ns) with respect to the duration of the pump (8.5 ns). Within the temporal window of the seed pulse the pump to signal conversion efficiency exceeds 20%. Recompression of the amplified signal was demonstrated to 310 fs, limited by the aberrations initially present in the low energy seed imparted by the pulse stretcher. The maximum gain in our OPCPA system is 6 x 10{sup 7}, obtained through single passing of 40 mm of beta-barium borate. We present data on the beam quality obtained from our system (M{sup 2}=1.1). This relatively simple system replaces a significantly more complex Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier based CPA system used in the front end of a high energy short pulse laser. Future improvement will include obtaining shorter amplified pulses and higher average power.

In this paper, we study the wavelength-dependent amplification in three different wideband quantum well semiconductor opticalamplifiers (QWAs) having conventional, exponentially tapered, and linearly tapered active region waveguide structures. A new theoretical model for tapered-waveguide QWAs considering the effect of lateral carrier density distribution and the strain effect in the quantum well is established based on a quantum well transmission line modeling method. The temporal and spectral characteristics of amplified femtosecond pulse are analyzed for each structure. It was found that, for the amplification of a single femtosecond pulse, the tapered-waveguide QWA provides higher saturation gain, and the output spectra of the amplified pulse in all three structures exhibit an apparent redshift and bandwidth narrowing due to the reduction of carrier density; however, the output spectrum in the tapered-waveguide amplifier is less distorted and exhibits smaller bandwidth narrowing. For the simultaneous amplification of two femtosecond pulses with different central frequencies, in all the three structures, two peaks appear in the output spectra while the peak at the frequency closer to the peak frequency of the QWA gain spectrum receives higher amplification due to the frequency (wavelength) dependence of the QWA gain. At a low peak power level of the input pulse, the bandwidth of each window in the tapered structure is larger than that of the conventional waveguide structure, which aggravates the spectrum alias in the amplification of femtosecond pulses with different central frequencies. As the peak powers of the two pulses increase, the spectrum alias in the conventional waveguide becomes more serious while there are small changes in the tapered structures. Also, we have found that in the amplification of a femtosecond pulse train, the linear-tapered QWAs exhibit the fastest gain recovery as compared with the conventional and exponentially tapered QWAs. PMID

A free electron laser (FEL) in a mode-locked optical klystron (MLOK) configuration is modelled using start-to-end simulations that simulate realistic electron beam acceleration and transport before input into a full three-dimensional FEL simulation code. These simulations demonstrate that the MLOK scheme is compatible with the present generation of radiofrequency accelerator designs. A train of few-optical cycle pulses is predicted with peak powers similar to those of the equivalent conventional FEL amplifier. The role of electron beam energy modulation in these results is explained and the limitations of some simulation codes discussed. It is shown how seeding the FEL interaction using a High Harmonic seed laser can improve the coherence properties of the output.

We demonstrate a free-running 3-GHz slab-coupled optical waveguide (SCOW) optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) with low phase-noise (88 dB down from carrier). The SCOW-OEO uses high-power low-noise SCOW components in a single-loop cavity employing 1.5-km delay. The noise properties of our SCOW external-cavity laser (SCOWECL) and SCOW photodiode (SCOWPD) are characterized and shown to be suitable for generation of high spectral purity microwave tones. Through comparisons made with SCOW-OEO topologies employing amplification, we observe the sidemode levels to be degraded by any amplifiers (optical or RF) introduced within the OEO cavity. PMID:23038600

In this paper, a reflective semiconductor opticalamplifier (RSOA) is configured to demodulate dynamic spectral shifts of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) dynamic strain sensor. The FBG sensor and the RSOA source form an adaptive fiber cavity laser. As the reflective spectrum of the FBG sensor changes due to dynamic strains, the wavelength of the laser output shifts accordingly, which is subsequently converted into a corresponding phase shift and demodulated by an unbalanced Michelson interferometer. Due to the short transition time of the RSOA, the RSOA-FBG cavity can respond to dynamic strains at high frequencies extending to megahertz. A demodulator using a PID controller is used to compensate for low-frequency drifts induced by temperature and large quasi-static strains. As the sensitivity of the demodulator is a function of the optical path difference and the FBG spectral width, optimal parameters to obtain high sensitivity are presented. Multiplexing to demodulate multiple FBG sensors is also discussed. PMID:27139682

We investigate experimentally the interaction between amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and a soliton, which are both generated in a dye-doped nematic liquid crystal (LC) cell. A light beam is injected through an optical fiber slid into the cell to form a soliton beam. ASE is then automatically collected by this self-induced waveguide and efficiently coupled into the same optical fiber, in the backward direction. We demonstrate that the presence of the soliton improves the ASE collection by one order of magnitude. We also show that the ASE is highly polarized in the plane of the LC cell and that the ASE spectrum depends on the pump stripe orientation with respect to the LC director. The origin of the spectral anisotropy of the gain curves is determined with the help of femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. PMID:27176973

We report on the development effort of a nanosecond-pulsed optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for remote trace gas measurements for Mars and Earth. The OPA output has high spectral purity and is widely tunable both at near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, with an optical-optica1 conversion efficiency of up to approx 39 %. Using this laser source, we demonstrated open-path measurements of CH4 (3291 nm and 1651 nm), CO2 (1573 nm), H2O (1652 nm), and CO (4764 nm) on the ground. The simplicity, tunability. and power scalability of the OPA make it a strong candidate for general planetary lidar instruments, which will offer important information on the origins of the planet's geology, atmosphere, and potential for biology,

The feasibility of cascading two birefringent fiber loops (BFLs) for directly modulating a conventional semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) at a faster data rate than that being possible by its limited electrical bandwidth is demonstrated for the first time. The experimental results reveal the improvements in the quality characteristics of the encoded signal compared to those achieved with a single-stage BFL. The observed trends are complemented by numerical simulations, which allow to investigate the impact of the double-stage BFL detuning and specify how this critical parameter must be selected for enhanced performance. Provided that it is properly tailored, the proposed optical notch filtering scheme efficiently compensates for the pattern-dependent SOA response and enables this element to be employed as intensity modulator with improved performance at enhanced data speeds.

The propagation of pulses in optical communication systems in which attenuation is compensated by phase-sensitive amplifiers is investigated. A central issue is whether optical fibers are capable of carrying several pieces of information at the same time. In this paper, multiple pulses are shown to exist for a fourth-order nonlinear diffusion model due to Kutz and co-workers (1994). Moreover, criteria are derived for determining which of these pulses are stable. The pulses arise in a reversible orbit-flip, a homoclinic bifurcation investigated here for the first time. Numerical simulations are used to study multiple pulses far away from the actual bifurcation point. They confirm that properties of the multiple pulses including their stability are surprisingly well-predicted by the analysis carried out near the bifurcation.

Lock-in amplifier (LIA) has been proposed as a detection technique for optical sensors because it can measure low signal in high noise level. LIA uses synchronous method, so the input signal frequency is locked to a reference frequency that is used to carry out the measurements. Generally, input signal frequency of LIA used in optical sensors is determined by modulation frequency of optical signal. It is important to understand the noise characteristics of the trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) to determine the modulation frequency. The TIA has a frequency range in which noise is minimized by the capacitance of photo diode (PD) and the passive component of TIA feedback network. When the modulation frequency is determined in this range, it is possible to design a robust system to noise. In this paper, we propose a method for the determination of optical signal modulation frequency selection by using the noise characteristics of TIA. Frequency response of noise in TIA is measured by spectrum analyzer and minimum noise region is confirmed. The LIA and TIA circuit have been designed as a hybrid circuit. The optical sensor is modeled by the laser diode (LD) and photo diode (PD) and the modulation frequency was used as the input to the signal generator. The experiments were performed to compare the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the minimum noise region and the others. The results clearly show that the SNR is enhanced in the minimum noise region of TIA.

We discuss the fundamental issues associated with the magnetoplasmon excitations in a semiconducting quantum wire characterized by a harmonic confining potential and subjected to an applied (perpendicular) magnetic field. The problem involves two length scales: l0 =√{ ℏ /m*ω0 } and lc =√{ ℏ /m*ωc } , which characterize the strengths of the confinement and the magnetic field (B). Essentially, we focus on the device aspects of the intersubband collective (magnetoroton) excitation, which observes a negative group velocity between maxon and roton. Existence of the negative group velocity is a clear manifestation of a medium with population inversion brought about due to a metastable state caused by the magnetic field that satisfies the condition B >Bth ; Bth being the threshold value below which the magnetoroton does not exist. A medium with an inverted population has the remarkable ability of amplifying a small optical signal of definite wavelength. An extensive scrutiny of the gain coefficient suggests an interesting and important application: the electronic device designed on the basis of such magnetoroton modes can act as an opticalamplifier1.

Proposed in this paper is a high efficient 160Gb/s all-optical wavelength converter based on terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer with quantum dot Semiconductor opticalamplifier (QDSOA -TOAD). The performance of the wavelength converter under various operating conditions, such as different injected current densities, input pulse widths and input control pulse energies, is analyzed in terms of contrast ratio (CR) through numerical simulations. With the properly chosen parameters, a wavelength-converted signal with CR over 19.48 can be obtained.

Frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements were made to characterize pulses from a Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplified laser system. By characterizing both the pulse intensity and the phase, the FROG data provided the first direct observation to our knowledge of residual phase distortion in a chirped-pulse amplifier. The FROG technique was also used to measure the regenerative amplifier dispersion and to characterize an amplitude-shaped pulse. The data provide an experimental demonstration of the value of FROG for characterizing complex pulses, including tailored femtosecond pulses for quantum control.

This paper provides the basic algorithmic definitions and performance characterizations for a high-performance adaptive noiseless (lossless) 'coding module' which is currently under separate developments as single-chip microelectronic circuits at two NASA centers. Laboratory tests of one of these implementations recently demonstrated coding rates of up to 900 Mbits/s. Operation of a companion 'decoding module' can operate at up to half the coder's rate. The functionality provided by these modules should be applicable to most of NASA's science data. The hardware modules incorporate a powerful adaptive noiseless coder for 'standard form' data sources (i.e., sources whose symbols can be represented by uncorrelated nonnegative integers where the smaller integers are more likely than the larger ones). Performance close to data entries can be expected over a 'dynamic range' of from 1.5 to 12-15 bits/sample (depending on the implementation). This is accomplished by adaptively choosing the best of many Huffman equivalent codes to use on each block of 1-16 samples. Because of the extreme simplicity of these codes no table lookups are actually required in an implementation, thus leading to the expected very high data rate capabilities already noted.

Rice developed a universal noiseless coding structure that provides efficient performance over an extremely broad range of source entropy. This is accomplished by adaptively selecting the best of several easily implemented variable length coding algorithms. Variations of such noiseless coders have been used in many NASA applications. Custom VLSI coder and decoder modules capable of processing over 50 million samples per second have been fabricated and tested. In this study, the first of the code options used in this module development is shown to be equivalent to a class of Huffman code under the Humblet condition, for source symbol sets having a Laplacian distribution. Except for the default option, other options are shown to be equivalent to the Huffman codes of a modified Laplacian symbol set, at specified symbol entropy values. Simulation results are obtained on actual aerial imagery over a wide entropy range, and they confirm the optimality of the scheme. Comparison with other known techniques are performed on several widely used images and the results further validate the coder's optimality.

The effect of additional optical pumping injection into the ground-state ensemble on the ultrafast gain and the phase recovery dynamics of electrically-driven quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers is numerically investigated by solving 1088 coupled rate equations. The ultrafast gain and the phase recovery responses are calculated with respect to the additional optical pumping power. Increasing the additional optical pumping power can significantly accelerate the ultrafast phase recovery, which cannot be done by increasing the injection current density.

Fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) has gained its popularity in the telecommunication systems at the 1.5-um window for its gain, bandwidth etc. Unfortunately, its practical application at the bio-favorable window, i.e. 1.0 um, still requires substantial efforts. Thus, here we report a versatile all-fiber optical parametric amplifier for life-science (OPALS) at 1.0 um as an add-on module for optical imaging system. The parametric gain fiber (photonic-crystal fiber (PCF), 110 m in length) is specially designed to reduce the longitudinal dispersion fluctuation, which yields a superior figure of merit, i.e. a total insertion loss of ~2.5 dB and a nonlinear coefficient of 34 /(W•km). Our OPALS delivers a superior performance in terms of gain (~158,000), bandwidth (>100 nm) and gain flatness (< 3-dB ripple). Experimentally, we show that: 1) a wavelength-varying quasi-monochrome pump achieves a 52-dB gain and 160-nm bandwidth, but at the expense of a larger gain-spectrum ripple, i.e. a bell-shaped; 2) the birefringence of the parametric gain medium, i.e. PCF in this case, can be utilized to improve the gain-spectrum flatness of OPALS by 10.5 dB, meanwhile a 100-nm bandwidth can be guaranteed; 3) the gain-spectrum flatness of OPALS can be further flattened by using a high-speed wavelength-sweeping pump, which exhibits a 110-nm flat gain spectrum with ripple less than 3 dB. Finally, we employ this versatile all-fiber OPALS as an add-on module to enhance the sensitivity of a spectrally-encoded microscope by 47 dB over an ultra-wide spectral range.

Passively mode-locked fiber laser (MLFL) has been widely used in many applications, such as optical communication system, industrial production, information processing, laser weapons and medical equipment. And many efforts have been done for obtaining lasers with small size, simple structure and shorter pulses. In recent years, nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) in semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) has been studied and applied as a mode-locking mechanism. This kind of passively MLFL has faster operating speed and makes it easier to realize all-optical integration. In this paper, we had a thorough analysis of NPR effect in SOA. And we explained the principle of mode-locking by SOA and set up a numerical model for this mode-locking process. Besides we conducted a Matlab simulation of the mode-locking mechanism. We also analyzed results under different working conditions and several features of this mode-locking process are presented. Our simulation shows that: Firstly, initial pulse with the peak power exceeding certain threshold may be amplified and compressed, and stable mode-locking may be established. After about 25 round-trips, stable mode-locked pulse can be obtained which has peak power of 850mW and pulse-width of 780fs.Secondly, when the initial pulse-width is greater, narrowing process of pulse is sharper and it needs more round-trips to be stable. Lastly, the bias currents of SOA affect obviously the shape of mode-locked pulse and the mode-locked pulse with high peak power and narrow width can be obtained through adjusting reasonably the bias currents of SOA.

We study the propagations of optical self-similar solutions in a tapered graded-index nonlinear-fiber amplifier with an external source through asymmetric twin-core fiber amplifiers. Various types of exact self-similar solutions, including the W-shaped and U-shaped solutions, trigonometric function solutions, and periodic wave solutions are found. The results show that these different types of self-similar optical structures can be generated and effectively controlled by modulating the amplitude of the source. The influences of nonlinear tunneling effects on the propagation of optical pulses are investigated as well. The obtained results may have potential applications in a tapered graded-index nonlinear-fiber amplifier with an external source.

Practical implementation of millimeter-wave quasi-opticalamplifier arrays will require high device uniformity across the array, efficient coupling to and from each gain device, good device-to-device isolation, and efficient heat removal. This paper presents techniques that address these issues for a 44 GHz MMIC-based design. To improve device uniformity, a double selective gate recess approach is introduced which results in a demonstrated 3 - 5X improvement in uniformity when compared to Raytheon's standard production pHEMT process. For packaging, direct backside interconnect technology (DBIT) is introduced as a bondwire-free scheme for connecting each amplifier to the array. This approach significantly reduces interconnect loss by reducing interconnect inductance. Measured insertion loss at 44 GHz for the DBIt transition is 0.35 dB compared to 2.3 dB for a typical bondwire transition produced on a manufacturing automated bonding machine. By eliminating bondwires which tend to radiate at millimeter wave frequencies, the DBIT approach also significantly improves the device-to-device isolation, thereby improving the array stability. The DBIT approach would not be viable if it could not effectively dissipate heat (a typical 25 watt array generates greater than 100 watts of heat). Finite element thermal analysis results are presented which show that the DBIT approach adds a tolerable 15.5 degree(s)C temperature rise over a standard solder-based MMIC die-attach to a heatsink. Thus, the DBIT approach, along with the double selective gate recess process, provides an attractive, low-loss, bondwire-free approach for producing uniform amplifier arrays.

Evanescent-wave excited fluorescence technology has been demonstrated to enhance sensitivity and reduce matrix effects, making it suitable for biosensor development. In this study, we developed a liposome-based, total internal reflection fluorescence, fiber-optic biosensor (TIRF-FOB) for protein detection, which integrates a liposomal amplifier and sandwich immunoassay format with TIRF-FOB. In addition, the antibody-tagged and fluorophore-entrapped liposomes for heterogeneous detection of target molecules were designed and synthesized. This biosensor successfully detected the target protein (model analyzed here is IgG) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.0 attomoles for the target protein (equivalent to 2.0 pg/mL of protein presented in 150 μL of sample solution). The features of this ultra-sensitive liposomal TIRF-FOB are (i) fluorescence is excited via evanescent waves and amplified via liposomes; (ii) the use of two polyclonal antibodies in the sandwich assay format increases the specificity and lowers the cost of our assay. Based on the exceptional detection sensitivity and cost-effectiveness, we believe that the proposed biosensor has great potential as a practical, clinical diagnostic tool in the near future. PMID:26595485

The modeling of all-optical logic XNOR gate is realized by a series combination of XOR and INVERT gates. This Boolean function is simulated by using Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) utilizing quantum-dots semiconductor opticalamplifiers (QDs-SOAs). The study is carried out when the effect of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is included. The dependence of the output quality factor ( Q-factor) on signals and QDs-SOAs' parameters is also investigated and discussed. The simulation is conducted under a repetition rate of ˜1 Tb/s.

The structure and dynamics of solitary waves created in the interaction of multiwavelength pulses in a single-mode optical fibre with amplification, filtering, and amplitude modulation is analysed. It is shown that there is a critical wavelength separation between channels above which wavelength-division multiplexing with solitons is feasible and that this separation increases with the number of channels.

We present results from a unique burst-mode femtosecond non-collinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) under development for the optical - x-ray pump-probe experiments at the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility. The NOPA operates at a burst rate of 10 Hz, a duty cycle of 2.5% and an intra-burst repetition rate of up to 4.5 MHz, producing high fidelity 15 fs pulses at a center wavelength of 810 nm. Using dispersive amplification filtering of the super-continuum seed pulses allows for selectable pulse duration up to 75 fs, combined with a tuning range in excess of 100 nm whilst remaining nearly transform limited. At an intra-burst rate of 188 kHz the single pulse energy from two sequential NOPA stages reached 180 µJ, corresponding to an average power of 34W during the burst. Acousto- and electro-optic switching techniques enable the generation of transient free bursts of required length and the selection of arbitrary pulse sequences inside the burst. PMID:25321596

The non-collinear phase-matching in Potassium Dideuterium Phosphate (DKDP) crystal is analyzed in detail with signal pulse of center wavelength at 808 nm and pump pulse of wavelength at 526.5 nm. By numerical analysis, parametric bandwidths for various DKDP crystals of different deuteration level are presented. In particularly for DKDP crystals of 95% deuteration level, the optimal non-collinear angles, phase-matching angles, parametric bandwidths, walk-off angles, acceptance angles, efficiency coefficients, gain and gain bandwidths are provided based on the parameter concepts. Optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier based on DKDP crystal is designed and the output characteristics are simulated by OPA coupled wave equations for further discuss. It is concluded that DKDP crystals higher than 90% deuteration level can be utilized in ultra-short high power laser systems with compressed pulses broader than 30fs. The disadvantage is that the acceptance angles are small, increasing the difficulty of engineering regulation.

In this paper, the influence of the word length (WL) of a pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) and the input laser power on nonlinear crosstalk induced by the different hybrid opticalamplifiers (HOAs) has been examined. It is found that the crosstalk is strongly dependent on the WL and very sensitive to the relative powers of the input signals at 0.2 nm and 0.4 nm of the channel spacing. It is shown that the proposed hybrid Raman-EDFA induces lesser crosstalk as compared to other HOAs. The performance of Raman-EDFA HOA is also investigated for 16 × 10 Gbps dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) system at 0.2 nm of channel spacing.

The present invention provides quantum cascade lasers and amplifier that operate in a frequency range of about 1 Terahertz to about 10 Terahertz. In one aspect, a quantum cascade laser of the invention includes a semiconductor heterostructure that provides a plurality of lasing modules connected in series. Each lasing module includes a plurality of quantum well structure that collectively generate at least an upper lasing state, a lower lasing state, and a relaxation state such that the upper and the lower lasing states are separated by an energy corresponding to an optical frequency in a range of about 1 to about 10 Terahertz. The lower lasing state is selectively depopulated via resonant LO-phonon scattering of electrons into the relaxation state.

The present invention provides quantum cascade lasers and amplifier that operate in a frequency range of about 1 Terahertz to about 10 Terahertz. In one aspect, a quantum cascade laser of the invention includes a semiconductor heterostructure that provides a plurality of lasing modules connected in series. Each lasing module includes a plurality of quantum well structure that collectively generate at least an upper lasing state, a lower lasing state, and a relaxation state such that the upper and the lower lasing states are separated by an energy corresponding to an optical frequency in a range of about 1 to about 10 Terahertz. The lower lasing state is selectively depopulated via resonant LO-phonon scattering of electrons into the relaxation state.

A line of travelling-wave semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) based on heterostructures used for production of broadband superluminescent diodes is developed. The pure small-signal gains of the developed SOA modules are about 25 dB, while the gain bandwidths at a level of –10 dB reach 50 – 100 nm. As a whole, the SOA modules cover the IR spectral range from 750 to 1100 nm. The SOAs demonstrate a high reliability at a single-mode fibre-coupled cw output power up to 50 mW. Examples of application of two of the developed SOA modules as active elements of broadband fast-tunable lasers are presented. (lasers)

Two novel bandwidth efficient pump-dithering Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) suppression techniques are introduced. The techniques employ a frequency-hopped chirp and an RF noise source to impart phase modulation on the pumps of a two pump Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifier (FOPA). The effectiveness of the introduced techniques is confirmed by measurements of the SBS threshold increase and the associated improvements relative to the current state of the art. Additionally, the effect on the idler signal integrity is presented as measured following amplification from a two pump FOPA employing both techniques. The measured 0.8 dB penalty with pumps dithered by an RF noise source, after accruing 160 ps/nm of dispersion with 38 dB conversion gain in a two-pump FOPA is the lowest reported to date. PMID:20721202

A temporal phase mask encryption method is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to improve the security of the stealth channel in an optical steganography system. The stealth channel is protected in two levels. In the first level, the data is carried by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, which cannot be detected in either the time domain or spectral domain. In the second level, even if the eavesdropper suspects the existence of the stealth channel, each data bit is covered by a fast changing phase mask. The phase mask code is always combined with the wide band noise from ASE. Without knowing the right phase mask code to recover the stealth data, the eavesdropper can only receive the noise like signal with randomized phase. PMID:24515055

The gain recovery dynamic characteristics of the semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) with distributed feedback (DFB) grating are theoretically investigated. The interaction of the grating structure and the assist light is used to accelerate the gain recovery process in the SOA. The effects of the assist light that is injected into the SOA with DFB structure on the gain recovery dynamics, the steady-state carrier density, and field intensity distributions are analyzed, respectively. Results show that the recovery time in the DFB SOA is successfully reduced by injecting relatively high power assist light, whose wavelength is set at the gain region. Finally, under assist light injection, the effects of DFB grating on the gain recovery process are also discussed. It is shown that the gain recovery in the SOA with DFB grating is faster than that in the SOA without DFB grating. In addition, the coupling factor in the DFB grating structure can be optimized to shorten the gain recovery time.

The algorithmic definitions and performance characterizations are presented for a high performance adaptive coding module. Operation of at least one of these (single chip) implementations is expected to exceed 500 Mbits/s under laboratory conditions. Operation of a companion decoding module should operate at up to half the coder's rate. The module incorporates a powerful noiseless coder for Standard Form Data Sources (i.e., sources whose symbols can be represented by uncorrelated non-negative integers where the smaller integers are more likely than the larger ones). Performance close to data entropies can be expected over a Dynamic Range of from 1.5 to 12 to 14 bits/sample (depending on the implementation).

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an all-optical upconverter for the generation of an optical single-sideband (OSSB) signal in radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems. The OSSB signal, which is required for overcoming the fiber chromatic dispersion problem in RoF systems, is generated by using an all-optical SSB upconverter consisting of an optical interleaver and a semiconductor opticalamplifier. With this upconversion technique, OSSB radio frequency (RF) signals with an RF frequency ranging from 15 GHz to 42.5 GHz are generated by mixing an optical intermediate frequency (IF) signal (1 GHz) with an optical local oscillator signal and transmitted over a 46 km standard single-mode fiber. The OSSB RF signal generated by this upconversion technique shows negligible dispersion-induced carrier suppression effects, which are usually observed for an optical double-sideband RF signal. The all-optical SSB upconverter provides high conversion efficiency of up to 29 dB and a sufficiently large spurious free dynamic range of 82 dB.Hz(2/3) for microcellular personal communication system applications. PMID:19506630

We suggest and experimentally demonstrate a method for increasing the tunable rf phase shift of semiconductor waveguides while at the same time enabling control of the rf power. This method is based on the use of slow- and fast-light effects in a cascade of semiconductor opticalamplifiers combined with the use of spectral filtering to enhance the role of refractive index dynamics. A continuously tunable phase shift of approximately 240 degrees at a microwave frequency of 19 GHz is demonstrated in a cascade of two semiconductor opticalamplifiers, while maintaining an rf power change of less than 1.6 dB. The technique is scalable to more amplifiers and should allow realization of an rf phase shift of 360 degrees. PMID:19340174

We experimentally investigate the initial chirp dependence of slow and fast light effects in a semiconductor opticalamplifier followed by an optical filter. It is shown that the enhancement of the phase shift due to optical filtering strongly depends on the chirp of the input optical signal. We demonstrate approximately 120 degrees phase delay as well as approximately 170 degrees phase advance at a microwave frequency of 19 GHz for different optimum values of the input chirp. The experimental results are shown to be in good agreement with numerical results based on a four-wave mixing model. Finally, a simple physical explanation based on an analytical perturbative approach is presented. PMID:19188968

We experimentally demonstrate enhanced slow and fast light by forced coherent population oscillations in a semiconductor opticalamplifier at gigahertz frequencies. This approach is shown to rely on the interference between two different contributions. This opens up the possibility of conceiving a controllable rf phase shifter based on this setup. PMID:20634862

One of the important functions in a communication network is the distribution of information. It is not a problem to accomplish this in a classical system since classical information can be copied at will. However, challenges arise in quantum system because extra quantum noise is often added when the information content of a quantum state is distributed to various users. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a quantum information tap by using a fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) with correlated inputs, whose noise is reduced by the destructive quantum interference through quantum entanglement between the signal and the idler input fields. By measuring the noise figure of the FOPA and comparing with a regular FOPA, we observe an improvement of 0.7 ± 0.1 dB and 0.84 ± 0.09 dB from the signal and idler outputs, respectively. When the low noise FOPA functions as an information splitter, the device has a total information transfer coefficient of Ts+Ti = 1.5 ± 0.2, which is greater than the classical limit of 1. Moreover, this fiber based device works at the 1550 nm telecom band, so it is compatible with the current fiber-optical network for quantum information distribution. PMID:27458089

One of the important functions in a communication network is the distribution of information. It is not a problem to accomplish this in a classical system since classical information can be copied at will. However, challenges arise in quantum system because extra quantum noise is often added when the information content of a quantum state is distributed to various users. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a quantum information tap by using a fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) with correlated inputs, whose noise is reduced by the destructive quantum interference through quantum entanglement between the signal and the idler input fields. By measuring the noise figure of the FOPA and comparing with a regular FOPA, we observe an improvement of 0.7 ± 0.1 dB and 0.84 ± 0.09 dB from the signal and idler outputs, respectively. When the low noise FOPA functions as an information splitter, the device has a total information transfer coefficient of Ts+Ti = 1.5 ± 0.2, which is greater than the classical limit of 1. Moreover, this fiber based device works at the 1550 nm telecom band, so it is compatible with the current fiber-optical network for quantum information distribution.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of longitudinal dispersion fluctuations of the optical fiber on the gain spectrum and the saturation behavior of one-pump fiber-optical parametric amplifiers (1-P FOPAs). The gain spectra and the saturation curves of 1-P FOPAs are simulated by solving the coupled amplitude equations numerically and taking into account the dispersion fluctuations as a stochastic process with a given standard deviation and correlation length. Results show that the shape and the level of the gain spectrum and also the saturation power of 1-P FOPAs are considerably changed in the presence of dispersion fluctuations in comparison with the case when dispersion fluctuations are ignored. This feature is also totally different compared with the small-signal gain spectrum of the FOPA in the presence of dispersion fluctuations. Moreover, the value of the change in the gain and the saturation power depends strongly on the fluctuation parameters, i.e., the standard deviation and the correlation length. PMID:27140344

We proposed a sensitivity enhancement method of the interference-based signal detection approach and applied it on a swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system through all-fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) and parametric balanced detector (BD). The parametric BD was realized by combining the signal and phase conjugated idler band that was newly-generated through FOPA, and specifically by superimposing these two bands at a photodetector. The sensitivity enhancement by FOPA and parametric BD in SS-OCT were demonstrated experimentally. The results show that SS-OCT with FOPA and SS-OCT with parametric BD can provide more than 9 dB and 12 dB sensitivity improvement, respectively, when compared with the conventional SS-OCT in a spectral bandwidth spanning over 76 nm. To further verify and elaborate their sensitivity enhancement, a bio-sample imaging experiment was conducted on loach eyes by conventional SS-OCT setup, SS-OCT with FOPA and parametric BD at different illumination power levels. All these results proved that using FOPA and parametric BD could improve the sensitivity significantly in SS-OCT systems. PMID:27446655

The static and dynamic characteristics of a wavelength-swept active mode locking (AML) fiber laser are presented in both the time-region and wavelength-region. This paper shows experimentally that the linewidth of a laser spectrum and the bandwidth of the sweeping wavelength are dependent directly on the length and dispersion of the fiber cavity as well as the modulation frequency and sweeping rate under the mode-locking condition. To achieve a narrower linewidth, a longer length and higher dispersion of the fiber cavity as well as a higher order mode locking condition are required simultaneously. For a broader bandwidth, a lower order of the mode locking condition is required using a lower modulation frequency. The dynamic sweeping performance is also analyzed experimentally to determine its applicability to optical coherence tomography imaging. It is shown that the maximum sweeping rate can be improved by the increased free spectral range from the shorter length of the fiber cavity. A reflective semiconductor opticalamplifier (RSOA) was used to enhance the modulation and dispersion efficiency. Overall a triangular electrical signal can be used instead of the sinusoidal signal to sweep the lasing wavelength at a high sweeping rate due to the lack of mechanical restrictions in the wavelength sweeping mechanism.

The design, fabrication and measurement of a cylindrical fiber coil structure is presented that has applications for compact fiber-opticamplifiers. A multimode fiber is used as a surrogate for a dual clad, rare-earth doped fiber for coil fabrication and optical testing. A ray trace algorithm, written in Python, was used to simulate the behavior of light travelling along the waveguide path. An in-house fabrication method was developed using 3D printed parts designed in SolidWorks and assembled with Arduino-controlled stepper motors for coil winding. Ultraviolet-cured epoxy was used to bind the coils into a rigid cylinder. Bend losses are introduced by the coil, and a measurement of the losses for two coil lengths was obtained experimentally. The measurements confirm that bend losses through a multimode fiber, representative of pump light propagating in a dual-clad rare-earth doped fiber, are relatively wavelength independent over a large spectral range and that higher order modes are extinguished quickly while lower order modes transmit through the windings with relatively low loss.

One of the important functions in a communication network is the distribution of information. It is not a problem to accomplish this in a classical system since classical information can be copied at will. However, challenges arise in quantum system because extra quantum noise is often added when the information content of a quantum state is distributed to various users. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a quantum information tap by using a fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) with correlated inputs, whose noise is reduced by the destructive quantum interference through quantum entanglement between the signal and the idler input fields. By measuring the noise figure of the FOPA and comparing with a regular FOPA, we observe an improvement of 0.7 ± 0.1 dB and 0.84 ± 0.09 dB from the signal and idler outputs, respectively. When the low noise FOPA functions as an information splitter, the device has a total information transfer coefficient of Ts+Ti = 1.5 ± 0.2, which is greater than the classical limit of 1. Moreover, this fiber based device works at the 1550 nm telecom band, so it is compatible with the current fiber-optical network for quantum information distribution. PMID:27458089

We proposed a sensitivity enhancement method of the interference-based signal detection approach and applied it on a swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system through all-fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) and parametric balanced detector (BD). The parametric BD was realized by combining the signal and phase conjugated idler band that was newly-generated through FOPA, and specifically by superimposing these two bands at a photodetector. The sensitivity enhancement by FOPA and parametric BD in SS-OCT were demonstrated experimentally. The results show that SS-OCT with FOPA and SS-OCT with parametric BD can provide more than 9 dB and 12 dB sensitivity improvement, respectively, when compared with the conventional SS-OCT in a spectral bandwidth spanning over 76 nm. To further verify and elaborate their sensitivity enhancement, a bio-sample imaging experiment was conducted on loach eyes by conventional SS-OCT setup, SS-OCT with FOPA and parametric BD at different illumination power levels. All these results proved that using FOPA and parametric BD could improve the sensitivity significantly in SS-OCT systems. PMID:27446655

The smooth muscle cell is the principal component responsible for involuntary control of visceral organs, including vascular tonicity, secretion, and sphincter regulation. It is known that the neurotransmitters released from nerve endings increase the intracellular Ca(2+) level in smooth muscle cells followed by muscle contraction. We herein report that femtosecond laser pulses focused on the diffraction-limited volume can induce intracellular Ca(2+) increases in the irradiated smooth muscle cell without neurotransmitters, and locally increased intracellular Ca(2+) levels are amplified by calcium-induced calcium-releasing mechanisms through the ryanodine receptor, a Ca(2+) channel of the endoplasmic reticulum. The laser-induced Ca(2+) increases propagate to adjacent cells through gap junctions. Thus, ultrashort-pulsed lasers can induce smooth muscle contraction by controlling Ca(2+), even with optical stimulation of the diffraction-limited volume. This optical method, which leads to reversible and reproducible muscle contraction, can be used in research into muscle dynamics, neuromuscular disease treatment, and nanorobot control. PMID:23650149

Without interruption or affecting the transmission of ordinary payload channels, we propose a real time polarization mode dispersion (PMD) monitoring system for long-haul, multiple erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical fiber transmission using modulated amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of one of the EDFAs as the supervisory (SV) signal source. An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) at the receiver side is adopted to scan the spectrum of the transmitted ASE SV signal. Using the fixed-analyzer method, PMDs of different wavelength bands that range from 1545 to 1580 nm of a DWDM fiber-optic communication system can be found by adaptively changing the radio frequency of the AOTF. The resolution and the measuring range of the proposed monitoring system can be significantly improved by cascading the AOTFs at the receiver side. PMID:19252622

We report optical phase conjugation in C-band by counter-propagating dual pumped non-degenerate four-wave mixing in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA). The co-propagating signal and pump waves create a grating inside SOA which diffracts counter-propagating pump and generates the conjugate wave. Since the signal and conjugate waves appear at opposite ends, the conjugate is easily filtered out from the rest of spectrum with minimal spectral shift of the conjugate with respect to the incoming signal. With pump powers of -3.2 dBm each and signal input power of -7 dBm, conjugate power was of -27.2 dBm, giving a conversion efficiency of 1% at 18 GHz pump-signal detuning. By modulating the signal by a periodic pattern '1000' at 10 Gbps using a non-zero chirp intensity modulator and resolving the temporal profile of the electric field envelope of the conjugate wave, we demonstrate spectral inversion.

Nonlinear pulse evolution is studied for a fiber with normal dispersion (ND) and gain. Numerical simulations show that under certain conditions the pulse evolves into a parabolic shape, which has been shown to reduce optical wave breaking. Much as with the square pulse that forms in passive fibers with ND, the interplay of ND and self-phase modulation creates a highly linear chirp, which can be efficiently compressed. Application to an amplifying fiber/grating (prism) pair pulse compressor is considered, with an experimental demonstration of compression from 350 to 77 fs at a gain of 18 dB in an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. PMID:19865307

Single-pass, tapered wiggler amplifiers have an attractive feature of being able, in theory at least, of extracting a large portion of the electron beam energy into light. In circumstances where an optical FEL wiggler length is significantly longer than the Rayleigh length Z{sub R} corresponding to the electron beam radius, diffraction losses must be controlled via the phenomenon of optical guiding. Since the strength of the guiding depends upon the effective refractive index n exceeding one, and since (n-1) is inversely proportional to the optical electric field, there is a natural limiting mechanism to the on-axis field strength and thus the rate at which energy may be extracted from the electron beam. In particular, the extraction efficiency for a prebunched beam asymptotically grows linearly with z rather than quadratically. We present analytical and numerical simulation results concerning this behavior and discuss its applicability to various FEL designs including oscillator/amplifier-radiator configurations.

We report on a method to enhance the temporal contrast of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers (OPCPAs) by smoothing pump noise. The instantaneous parametric gain in OPCPA couples the temporal modulation on the pump pulses to spectral variations of the intensity of the stretched signal pulses being amplified. In this way, pump noise significantly degrades the temporal contrast of the amplified pulses after recompression. Cascaded second harmonic generation (SHG) is adopted to smooth modulation on the pump pulses in the proposed method. Apparent reduction of modulation on the pump pulses is observed in the experiments. Numerical simulation reproduces the experimental results. Simulation results show that cascaded SHG with stable output 2 ω can enhance the temporal contrast for OPCPAs with four to five orders. It is believed that this new method can be widely adopted to build high-contrast OPCPA systems.

Group delay dispersion (GDD) of -- 15 ps/nm has been measured in a near traveling wave opticalamplifier at a wavelength where measured gain ripple was -- 2 dB, using the envelope phase-shift technique. This is compared to a measured GDD of -- 180 ps/nm in a single facet AR coated amplifier biased below threshold with a gain ripple of -- 17 dB. It is shown that these results agree qualitatively with standard theory. An important result is that GDD increases with the square of amplifier length. One may expect to reduce GDD by an order of magnitude if gain ripple is reduced to 0.5 dB.

Based on Auger scattering mechanism, carrier-carrier scattering dynamics between the two-dimensional carrier reservoir (also called wetting layer, i.e., WL) and the confined quantum dot ground and first excited state in quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers (QD-SOAs) are investigated theoretically in this paper. The scattering rates for independent electron and hole densities are calculated. The results show an ultra-fast carrier capture (relaxation) rate up to 1 ps{sup −1}, and there is a complex dependence of the Coulomb scattering rates on the WL electron and hole densities. In addition, due to the different effective mass and the level distribution, the scattering rates for electron and hole are very different. Finally, in order to provide a direction to control (increase or decrease) the input current in realistic QD-SOA systems, a simple method is proposed to determine the trends of the carrier recovery rates with the WL carrier densities in the vicinity of the steady-state.

We report on the highly efficient non-linear optical frequency conversion of the wavelength swept output from a Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser. Different concepts for power scaling of FDML lasers by post-amplification with active fibers are presented. A two-stage post-amplification of an FDML laser with an amplification factor of 300 up to a peak power of 1.5 W is used to supply sufficient power levels for non-linear conversion. Using a single-mode dispersion shifted fiber (DSF), we convert this amplified output that covers the region between 1541 nm and 1545 nm to a wavelength range from 1572 nm to 1663 nm via modulation instability (MI). For this four wave mixing process we observe an efficiency of approximately 40%. The anti-Stokes signal between 1435 nm and 1516 nm was observed with lower conversion efficiency. In addition to shifting the wavelength, the effect of MI also enables a substantial increase in the wavelength sweep rate of the FDML laser by a factor of approximately 50 to 0.55 nm/ns. PMID:19770897

A novel opto-electronic scheme for line-of-sight Near-IR gas absorption measurement based on direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) is reported. A diode-laser-based, multiwavelength system is designed for future application in nonintrusive, high temporal resolution tomographic imaging of H2O in internal combustion engines. DAS is implemented with semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) to enable wavelength multiplexing and to induce external intensity modulation for phase-sensitive detection. Two overtone water transitions in the Near-IR have been selected for ratiometric temperature compensation to enable concentration measurements, and an additional wavelength is used to account for nonabsorbing attenuation. A wavelength scanning approach was used to evaluate the new modulation technique, and showed excellent absorption line recovery. Fixed-wavelength, time-division-multiplexing operation with SOAs has also been demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time SOAs have been used for modulation and switching in a spectroscopic application. With appropriate diode laser selection this scheme can be also used for other chemical species absorption measurements. PMID:23207374

The longitudinal spatial hole burning (LSHB) in semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOA) is investigated using an improved wideband numerical model. The main new feature of the model is that it takes into account the current self-distribution effect, which induced by the axial variations of the separation between quise-Fermi levels in active region. The current self-distribution effect leads to the nonuniform current injection, and it tends to smoothen the carrier density distribution over the active region and reduces the strength of LSHB. It is found that the internal series resistance of SOA, which comes from mental-semiconductor Ohmic contacts, heterointerface and semiconductor bulk resist, significantly influences the strength of current self-distribution effect. The assumption of current injected uniformly gives rise to an overestimation of the strength of LSHB in SOA. The simulation results also show that the series resistance influences the gain and noise figure of SOA greatly. It is proposed that reducing the series resistance can enhance the small signal gain and reduced the noise figure of SOA efficiently.

We present results on a monolithic semiconductor-based master-oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) combining a distributed-feedback (DFB) laser and a tapered amplifier on a single chip. The MOPA reaches an output power of almost 12 W at an emission wavelength around 1064 nm in continuous-wave operation. Pulses with a length of around 100 ps can be obtained either by injecting nanosecond current pulses into the tapered amplifier alone or into both the DFB laser and the tapered amplifier. In the latter case, pulses with a width of 84 ps, a peak power of 42 W, and a spectral width of 160 pm are generated. PMID:22660042

The performance of an all-optical NOR gate is numerically simulated and investigated. The NOR Boolean function is realized by using a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) incorporated in Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) arms and exploiting the nonlinear effect of two-photon absorption (TPA). If the input pulse intensities is adjusting to be high enough, the TPA-induced phase change can be larger than the regular gain-induced phase change and hence support ultrafast operation in the dual rail switching mode. The numerical study is carried out by taking into account the effect of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The dependence of the output quality factor ( Q-factor) on critical data signals and SOAs parameters is examined and assessed. The obtained results confirm that the NOR gate implemented with the proposed scheme is capable of operating at a data rate of 250 Gb/s with logical correctness and high output Q-factor.

We describe a dye-cell amplifier pumped by a copper-vapor laser at a 8.4-kHz repetition rate. This system avoids possible problems and restrictions arising from nozzle performance in commonly used jet-stream amplifiers. We obtained a nearly diffraction-limited beam with pulses of 60 fsec and energies of up to 50 ..mu..J.

We demonstrate 40 Gb/s all-optical clock recovery by using a monolithic integrated amplified-feedback laser (AFL) with coherent injection-locked method. The AFL consists of a gain-coupled DFB laser and an opticalamplified feedback external cavity. With proper design and operation of AFL, the device can work at self-pulsation state that resulted from the beating between two lasing modes. The self-pulsation can be injection-locked to the optical clock embedded in input data streams. Due to different work mechanisms, there are two all-optical clock recovery operation modes: incoherent injection-locked and coherent injection-locked. It's predicted that the coherent injection method has various advantages: 1) requiring low injection power recovery, 2) independent of the bit rate and 3) introducing little timing jitter to the recovered clock. The robustness of coherent clock recovery is confirmed by our experimental results. We set up a return-to- zero (RZ) pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) data streams all-optical clock recovery system. This coherent injection-locked based clock recovery method is optical signal noise ratio (OSNR) and chromatic dispersion (CD) degeneration tolerant, and has low timing jitter and high sensitivity.

We report on a characterization of fundamental gain dynamics in recently developed InAs/InP quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers. Multi-wavelength pump-probe measurements were used to determine gain recovery rates, following a powerful optical pump pulse, at various wavelengths for different bias levels and pump excitation powers. The recovery was dominated by coupling between the electronic states in the quantum-dots and the high energy carrier reservoir via capture and escape mechanisms. These processes determine also the wavelength dependencies of gain saturation depth and the asymptotic gain recovery level. Unlike quantum-dash amplifiers, these quantum-dots exhibit no instantaneous gain response, confirming their quasi zero-dimensional nature.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the suitability of fibre optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) for use in multi-channel, dynamic networks. First, we investigate their quasi-static behaviour in such an environment. We study the behaviour of a FOPA under realistic conditions and we examine the impact on the gain spectrum of channel addition for several different operating conditions and regimes. In particular, we examine the impact of surviving channel(s) position, input power and channel spacing. We see how these parameters affect the gain tilt as well as its dynamic characteristics, namely the generation of under or over-shoots at the transition point, possible dependence of rise and fall times on any of the aforementioned parameters and how the gain excursions depend on those parameters. For these studies we assume continuous wave operation for all signals. We observe that the gain spectrum changes are a function of the position and the spacing of the channels. We also find that the gain excursion can reach several dBs (up to 5 dB) in the case of channel add/drop and are heavily dependent on the position of the surviving channels. The channels located in the middle of the transmission band are more prone to channel add/drop-induced gain changes. Moreover, we investigate for the first time the FOPA dynamic behaviour in a packet switching scenario. This part of the study assumes that all but one channels normally vary in a packet-switched fashion. The remaining channel (probe channel) is expected to undergo gain variations due to the perturbation of the system experienced by the other channels. Furthermore, we consider several different scenarios for which the channels spacing, per channel input power (PCIP), variance of the power fluctuation and position of the probe channel will change. We find that when the FOPA operates near saturation the target gain is not achieved more than 50% of the time while the peak-to-peak gain excursions can exceed 1 d

Corrrection of birefringence induced effects (depolarization and bipolar focusing) was achieved in double-pass amplifiers using a Faraday rotator placed between the laser rod and the retroreflecting optic. A necessary condition was that each ray in the beam retraced its path through the amplifying medium. Retrace was limited by imperfect conjugate-beam fidelity and by nonreciprocal double-pass indices of refraction. We compare various retroreflectors: stimulated Brillouin scatter phase-conjugate-mirrors (PCMs), PCMs with relay lenses to image the rod principal plane onto the PCM entrance aperture (IPCMs), IPCMs with external, adaptively-adjusted, astigmatism-correcting cylindrical doublets, and all adaptive optics imaging variable-radius-mirrors (IVRMs). Results with flashlamp pumped, Nd:Cr:GSGG double-pass amplifiers show that average output power increased fivefold with a Faraday rotator plus complete nonlinear optics retroreflector package (IPCM+cylindrical zoom), and that this represents an 80% increase over the power achieved using just a PCM. Far better results are, however, achieved with an IVRM.

We are developing one kilohertz picosecond Yb:YAG thin disk regenerative amplifier with 500-W average power for medical and industrial applications. In case of high energy pulse amplification, a large area mode matching in gain media, which is drastically degenerated by the optical phase distortion, is required to avoid optical damage. We designed in-situ thin disk deformation measurement based on the combination of a precise wavefront sensor and a single mode probe beam. In contrast to a conventional interferometric measurement, this measurement is compact, easy-to-align, and is less affected by mechanical vibrations.

A novel all-optical quantization and coding scheme for ultrafast analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion exploiting polarization switches (PSWs) based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) in semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) is proposed. In addition, a theoretical model for the polarization switch based on NPR is presented. Through cascading two PSWs, a 2-period transfer function for 3-bit long all-optical quantization and coding is realized numerically for the first time to the authors' knowledge. The effective number of bits (ENOB), the limitation of bandwidth and conversion speed and the scalability are also investigated. The proposed all-optical quantization and coding scheme, combined with existing all-optical sampling techniques, will enable ultrafast A/D conversion at operating speed of hundreds of Gs/s with at least 3 bit resolution, and allows low optical power requirements, photonic integration, and easy scalability.

I-line optical pattern generators using non-chemically amplified resists have become the workhorses for high throughput mask fabrication. The demand for smaller and more uniform features on photomasks has driven the development of a 257 nm optical pattern generator. A non-chemically amplified resist is being developed to maximize the performance of this new 257 nm mask tool. Resist characterization and lithography simulation are being used to formulate a non-chemically amplified resist for 257 nm optical pattern generators. Non- chemically amplified resists are advantageous for us in mask fabrication due to their storage and post-exposure stability. Chemically amplified resists may provide higher performance but they also require environmental mini-environments and a post-exposure bake equipment not commonly present in mask houses. Diazonaphthoquinone (DNQ)/novolak resists have not been used for DUV Integrated Circuit (IC) applications mainly due to the low sensitivity and the strong absorbance of the DNQ photoactive compound (PAC) at 248 nm. However, a 2,1,4 DNQ based resist has been characterized that bleaches at 257 nm and inhibits novolak. The photoproduct of the 2,1,4 DNQ PAC is much more transparent at 257 nm than 248 nm. Novolak resin is too strongly absorbing for use in formulating efficient 248 nm resists, but novolak has an absorbance minimum at 257 nm that provides transparency similar to poly (hydroxystyrene). Lithography simulation is being used to develop a non- chemically amplified resist to minimize the expensive iteration of manufacturing trials. An exposure system using a 257 nm frequency double Ar laser system has been constructed to study the resist photokinetics. Dill exposure parameters (A, B and C) have been extracted for a 2,1,4 DNQ/novolak based resist. Dissolution rate measurements have been made with a DRM developed at the University of Texas at Austin. Simulation is used to determine the optimal resist absorption, bleaching, dose and

An all-optical frequency downconversion utilizing a four-wave mixing effect in a single semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) was experimentally demonstrated for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) radio-over-fiber (RoF) applications. Two WDM optical radio frequency (RF) signals having 155 Mbps differential phase shift keying (DPSK) data at 28.5 GHz were simultaneously down-converted to two WDM optical intermediate frequency (IF) signals having an IF frequency of 4.5 GHz by mixing with an optical local oscillator (LO) signal having a LO frequency of 24 GHz in the SOA. The bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the RoF up-links with different optical fiber lengths employing all-optical frequency downconversion was investigated. The receiver sensitivity of the RoF up-link with a 6 km single mode fiber and an optical IF signal in an optical double-sideband format was approximately -8.5 dBm and the power penalty for simultaneous frequency downconversion was approximately 0.63 dB. The BER performance showed a strong dependence on the fiber length due to the fiber dispersion. The receiver sensitivity of the RoF up-link with the optical IF signal in the optical single-sideband format was reduced to approximately -17.4 dBm and showed negligible dependence on the fiber length. PMID:22453476

We present a high peak power degenerated parametric amplifier operating at 1030 nm and 97 kHz repetition rate. Pulses of a state-of-the art fiber chirped-pulse amplification (FCPA) system with 840 fs pulse duration and 410 microJ pulse energy are used as pump and seed source for a two stage optical parametric amplifier. Additional spectral broadening of the seed signal in a photonic crystal fiber creates enough bandwidth for ultrashort pulse generation. Subsequent amplification of the broadband seed signal in two 1 mm BBO crystals results in 41 microJ output pulse energy. Compression in a SF 11 prism compressor yields 37 microJ pulses as short as 52 fs. Thus, pulse shortening of more than one order of magnitude is achieved. Further scaling in terms of average power and pulse energy seems possible and will be discussed, since both concepts involved, the fiber laser and the parametric amplifier have the reputation to be immune against thermo-optical effects. PMID:18545609

Based on the full two-dimensional characteristics of the quasi-phase-matched fan-out periodically poled crystal, a scalable and engineerable scheme for ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification is proposed, which can significantly broaden the gain bandwidth by the spatial separation of different frequency components of the signal pulse and manipulation of the distribution of the pump beam along the fan-out direction of the crystal. The theoretical analysis shows that the signal pulse can be amplified with minimal spectrum narrowing, and the initial spectrum can be broadened considerably if needed. Based on this scheme, using a fan-out periodically poled 5% mol MgO-doped congruent lithium niobate with a configuration of 5x0.5x5 mm{sup 3} and two pump beams, the 3.3-{mu}m middle-infrared ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier is designed. The numerical computation results confirm that the -3 dB gain bandwidth of this amplifier exceeds 320 nm and can be further broadened.

Nonlinear optical gain modulation in an InGaAsP/InP bulk reflective semiconductor opticalamplifier (RSOA) is studied. The differences of the optical properties between RSOAs and conventional SOAs are initially investigated. All-optical wavelength conversion based on nonlinear gain modulation in RSOAs is demonstrated at a bit rate of 2.488 Gbit/s. It is shown that a bit-error-rate of <10-9 can be achieved and an extinction ratio of >9 dB can be obtained at a bit rate of 2.488 Gbit/s with a 231-1 non-return-to-zero (NRZ) pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS). In comparison with conventional SOAs, wavelength conversion by RSOAs shows much improved performances in high-speed all-optical wavelength conversions.

We demonstrate an optimization method of beam quality and optical-to-optical (O-O) efficiency by using pulsed pumping. By changing the pulse duration and the peak intensity of pump pulse at the repetition rate of 1 kHz, the beam quality and O-O efficiency of the Yb:YAG thin-disk regenerative amplifier can be improved. We applied this method to the regenerative amplifier under the pumping wavelength of both 940 and 969 nm, and found that the method was effective in both pumping wavelengths. Although a Yb:YAG thin disk soldered on a copper tungsten heat sink, which has poor thermal properties compared with a thin disk mounted on a diamond substrate, was applied as a gain media, we obtained 45 mJ output with 19.3% O-O efficiency and nearly diffraction-limited beam. PMID:24690808

The performance of an all-optical logic OR gate is numerically studied and simulated. This Boolean operation is realized by using a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) and a delayed interferometer (DI) based on two-photon absorption (TPA). The input pulse intensities are high enough so that the two-photon-induced phase change is larger than the regular gain-induced phase change. The study is carried out with the effect of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) taken into account in the simulation analysis. The dependence of the output quality factor ( Q-factor) on the data signals and SOA's parameters is also investigated and discussed. The achieved results show that the OR gate is capable of operating at a data speed of 250 Gb/s with logical correctness and proper Q-factor.

We investigate the role of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) produced by an optical booster amplifier at the transmitter of free-space optical communication links. In a communication terminal with a single telescope for both transmission and reception, this ASE power has to be taken into account in connection with transmit-to-receive channel isolation, especially since it partly occupies the same state of polarization and the same frequency band as the receive signal. We show that the booster ASE intercepted by the receiver can represent a non-negligible source of background radiation: In a typical optical intersatellite link scenario, the ASE power spectral density generated by the booster amplifier at the transmitter and coupled to the receiver will be on the order of 10-20 W/Hz, which equals the background radiation of the sun. Exploiting these findings for pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) purposes, we describe a patent-pending PAT system doing without beacon lasers and without the need for diverting a part of the data signal for PAT. Utilizing the transmit booster ASE over a bandwidth of e.g. 20 nm at the receiver, a total power of about -46 dBm is available for PAT purposes without extra power consumption at the transmitter and without the need for beacon lAser alignment.

Multi-wavelength fiber lasers have attracted a lot of interest, recently, because of their potential applications in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems, optical fiber sensing, and fiber-optics instruments, due to their numerous advantages such as multiple wavelength operation, low cost, and compatibility with the fiber optic systems. Semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-based multi-wavelength fiber lasers exhibit stable operation because of the SOA has the property of primarily inhomogeneous broadening and thus can support simultaneous oscillation of multiple lasing wavelengths. In this letter, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a switchable multi-wavelength fiber laser employing a semiconductor opticalamplifier and twin-core photonic crystal fiber (TC-PCF) based in-line interferometer comb filter. The fabricated two cores are not symmetric due to the associated fiber fabrication process such as nonuniform heat gradient in furnace and asymmetric microstructure expansion during the gas pressurization which results in different silica strut thickness and core size. The induced asymmetry between two cores considerably alters the linear power transfer, by seriously reducing it. These nominal twin cores form effective two optical paths and associated effective refractive index difference. The in-fiber comb filter is effectively constructed by splicing a section of TC-PCF between two single mode fibers (SMFs). The proposed laser can be designed to operate in stable multi-wavelength lasing states by adjusting the states of the polarization controller (PC). The lasing modes are switched by varying the state of PC and the change is reversible. In addition, we demonstrate a tunable multi-wavelength fiber laser operation by applying temperature changes to TC-PCF in the multi-channel filter.

A millijoule-level high pulse energy picosecond (ps) mid-infrared (MIR) optical parametric amplifier (OPA) at 3.9 μm based on large-aperture MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) crystal was demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The MIR OPA was pumped by a 30 ps 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser at 10 Hz and injected by an energy-adjustable near-infrared seed based on a barium boron oxide (BBO) optical parametric generator/optical parametric amplifier (OPG/OPA) with double-pass geometry. Output energy of 1.14 mJ at 3.9 μm has been obtained at pump energy of 15.2 mJ. Furthermore, the performance of MIR OPG in MgO:PPLN was also investigated for comparing with the seeded OPA. PMID:25968539

Single-pass, tapered wiggler amplifiers have an attractive feature of being able, in theory at least, of extracting a large portion of the electron beam energy into light. In circumstances where an optical FEL`s wiggler length is significantly longer than the Rayleigh length Z{sub R} corresponding to the electron beam radius, diffraction losses must be controlled via the phenomenon of {open_quotes}optical guiding{close_quotes}. Since the strength of the guiding depends upon the effective refractive index {eta}{sub r} exceeding one, and since ({eta}{sub r}-1) is inversely proportional to the optical electric field, there is a natural {open_quotes}limiting{close_quotes} mechanism to the on-axis field strength and thus the rate at which energy may be extracted from the electron beam. In particular, the extraction efficiency for a prebunched beam asymptotically grows linearly with z rather than quadratically. We present analytical and numerical simulation results concerning this behavior and discuss its applicability to various FEL designs including oscillator/amplifier-radiator configurations.

To achieve an optical regenerator for a differential phase-shift keying signal based on a semiconductor opticalamplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI), we need an all-optical T-type flip-flop (T-FF) for encoding. We propose an all-optical T-FF consisting of an SOA-MZI with push-pull configuration and a feedback mirror to overcome the speed limitation of the previously proposed counter-faced configuration. Numerical simulation reveals its possibility of stable operation in 10 Gbps with a 27 - 1 pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) signal even by using a conventional SOA with a slow carrier recovery of 100 ps, and the possibility of 40 Gbps operation is also investigated.

A wavelength division multiplexed data gathering network is reported by using a distributed fiber amplifier bus. Using lightly doped erbium fiber and fiber Bragg gratings, a prototype has been constructed. A suitable network topology is considered for simultaneous transmission of data and wavelength multiplexing of sensors.

We report on a Yb:YAG Innoslab laser amplifier system for generation of subpicsecond high energy pump pulses for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) at high repetition rates. Pulse energies of up to 20 mJ (at 12.5 kHz) and repetition rates of up to 100 kHz were attained with pulse durations of 830 fs and average power in excess of 200 W. We further investigate the possibility to use subpicosecond pulses to derive a stable continuum in a YAG crystal for OPCPA seeding. PMID:21725443

Optically pumped rare-earth-doped polarizing fibers exhibit significantly higher gain for one linear polarization state than for the orthogonal state. Such a fiber can be used to construct a single-polarization fiber laser, amplifier, or amplified-spontaneous-emission (ASE) source without the need for additional optical components to obtain stable, linearly polarized operation.

Error-free generation of 25-Gbit/s differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) signals via direct modulation of InAs quantum-dot (QD) based semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) is experimentally demonstrated with an input power level of −5 dBm. The QD SOAs emit in the 1.3-μm wavelength range and provide a small-signal fiber-to-fiber gain of 8 dB. Furthermore, error-free DPSK modulation is achieved for constant optical input power levels from 3 dBm down to only −11 dBm for a bit rate of 20 Gbit/s. Direct phase modulation of QD SOAs via current changes is thus demonstrated to be much faster than direct gain modulation.

A broadband fibre-optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) operating at a novel wavelength region that is far from the pump wavelength has been demonstrated by exploiting two pairs of adjacent four-wave mixing (FWM) sidebands generated simultaneously in a tellurite microstructured optical fibre (TMOF). Owing to the large nonlinearity of the TMOF and the high pump peak power provided by a picosecond laser, a maximal average gain of 65.1 dB has been obtained. When the FOPA is operated in a saturated state, a flat-gain amplification from 1424 nm to 1459 nm can be achieved. This broadband and high-gain FOPA operating at new wavelength regions far from the pump offers the prospect of all-optical signal processing.

A novel all-optical frequency up-converter utilizing four-wave mixing (FWM) in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The frequency up-converter converted an optical intermediate frequency (IF) signal (f(IF) = 2.5 GHz) to an optical radio frequency (RF) signal (f(RF) = 35 and 40 GHz) through mixing with an optical local oscillator (LO) signal (f(LO) = 37.5 GHz). The up-converter showed positive conversion efficiency of 5.77 dB for the optical IF power of -22 dBm and the optical LO power of -13 dBm. This scheme showed broad bandwidths with respect to both LO and IF frequencies. The up-converter showed a phase noise of -84.5 dBc/Hz for the LO frequency of 37.5 GHz (f(LO)) and the offset frequency of 10 kHz after the frequency up-conversion. PMID:19532579

Polarization scrambling of the input signal in a long-haul erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) system is studied both experimentally and theoretically. Demonstration of an optimal polarization scrambler is achieved ensuring complete suppression of the signal decay caused by polarization dependent gain (PDG) in EDFAs. Best performance of the system is attained without imposing severe requirements on the polarization scrambler in terms of residual degree of polarization. Close agreement between measurements and calculations provides a valuable validation of the assumed linear dependency of the PDG differential gain with the degree of polarization of the light.

The ability to produce semiconducting polymer blends with white emission spectra, large emission cross sections and broad optical gain is critical to their application in white PLEDs, lasers and broadband amplifiers. Cyclodextrin-encapsulation is an effective means of suppressing detrimental intermolecular interactions, and energy transfer (ET) channels in polymer blends, thus enabling fabrication of white-PLEDs. We show that all such properties combine into a high impact photonic application: ultra-broad optical gain and two-color lasing in a binary polyrotaxane blend. We study the ultrafast photophysics of a blend of a conventional and an encapsulated polyfluorene. The morphology is investigated by microRaman imaging, AFM, and fluorescence lifetime microscopy. We ascribe the ultra-broad optical gain (>850 meV), and the simultaneous ASE for both constituents, to the dual effect of reduced polaron formation and suppressed ET. Our results demonstrate that polyrotaxanes could realistically represent the building blocks for advanced polymer blends with highly controlled optical properties, for applications in solid state lightning, lasers and photovoltaic technologies.

Optical stochastic cooling (OSC) is a method of beam cooling which is expected to provide cooling rates orders of magnitude larger than ordinary stochastic cooling. Light from an undulator (the pickup) is amplified and fed back onto the particle beam via another undulator (the kicker). Fermilab is currently exploring a possible proof-of-principle experiment of the OSC at the integrable-optics test accelerator (IOTA) ring. To implement effective OSC a good correction of phase distortions in the entire band of the opticalamplifier is required. In this contribution we present progress in experimental characterization of phase distortions associated to a Titanium Sapphire crystal laser-gain medium (a possible candidate gain medium for the OSC experiment to be performed at IOTA). We also discuss a possible option for a mid-IR amplifier

The scheme of the x-ray free electron laser based on the optical undulator created by two overlapped transverse laser beams is analyzed. A kinetic theoretical description and an ad hoc numerical model are developed to account for the finite energy spread, angular divergence, and the spectral properties of the electron beam in the optical lattice. The theoretical findings are compared to the results of the one- and three-dimensional numerical modeling with the spectral free electron laser code plares.

Using numerical simulations, we investigate the performance of fibre optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) within the context of agile, multi-wavelength photonic networks. In particular, we study the steady-state and dynamic response of FOPAs following changes in network operating conditions. These include changes in the gain spectrum (gain tilt) due to variations in the total input power to the amplifier or as a result of channel add/drop, as well as the characteristics of the gain transients following channel add/drop. Initially, we examine the worst case scenario where all channels are in-phase and exactly equispaced. We compare these results with the ones obtained for random initial phases and inexact channel spacings. We find that the complex nature of the interactions occurring in a FOPA make it very difficult to predict their behaviour a priori and their deployment in WDM systems will require special attention. Moreover, we confirm that unequal spacing can vastly improve the performance of multichannel FOPAs.

For what we believe is the first time, the feasibility of large-port-count nanosecond-reconfiguration-time optical switches is demonstrated using a hybrid approach, where Mach-Zehnder interferometric (MZI) switches provide low-loss, high-speed routing with short semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs) being integrated to enhance extinction. By repeatedly passing signals through a monolithic hybrid dilated 2×2 switch module in a recirculating loop, the potential performance of high-port-count switches using the hybrid approach is demonstrated. Experimentally, a single pass switch penalty of only 0.1 dB is demonstrated for the 2×2 module, while even after seven passes through the switch, equivalent to a 128×128 router, a penalty of only 2.4 dB is recorded at a data rate of 10 Gb/s. PMID:26466241

This paper presents a modified regulated cascode (RGC) transimpedance amplifier (TIA) with a novel pre-equalized technique. The pre-equalized circuit employed the broadband series inductive π-network and Gm-boosting technique. The introduction of this technique compensates the transferred signal at the input port of the TIA without an increase in power dissipation. Furthermore, a novel miller capacitance degeneration method is designed in the gain stage for further bandwidth improvement. The TIA is realized in UMC 0.18 πm CMOS technology and tested with an on-chip 0.3 pF capacitor to emulate a photodetector (PD). The measured transimpedance gain amounts to 57 dBΩ with a -3 dB bandwidth of about 8.2 GHz and consumes only 22 mW power from a single 1.8 V supply. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61036002, 61474081).

Coherence in light–matter interaction is a necessary ingredient if light is used to control the quantum state of a material system. Coherent effects are firmly associated with isolated systems kept at low temperature. The exceedingly fast dephasing in condensed matter environments, in particular at elevated temperatures, may well erase all coherent information in the material at timescales shorter than a laser excitation pulse. Here we show for an ensemble of semiconductor quantum dots that even in the presence of ultrafast dephasing, for suitably designed condensed matter systems quantum-coherent effects are robust enough to be observable at room temperature. Our conclusions are based on an analysis of the reshaping an ultrafast laser pulse undergoes on propagation through a semiconductor quantum dot amplifier. We show that this pulse modification contains the signature of coherent light–matter interaction and can be controlled by adjusting the population of the quantum dots via electrical injection. PMID:24336000

A waveguide laser oscillator was designed and experimental measurements made of relationships among output power, pressure, pump power, pump frequency, cavity tuning, output beam pattern, and cavity mirror properties for various active gases. A waveguide regenerative amplifier was designed and gain measurements were made for various active gases. An external Fabry-Perot interferometer was fabricated and used for accurate wavelength determination and for measurements of the refractive indices of solids transparent in the far infrared. An electronic system was designed and constructed to provide an appropriate error signal for use in feedback control of pump frequency. Pump feedback from the FIR laser was decoupled using a vibrating mirror to phase modulate the pump signal.

This paper will discuss the development of a millimeter-wave (mm-wave) receiver module used in a sparse array passive imaging system. Using liquid crystal polymer (LCP) technology and low power InP low noise amplifiers (LNA), enables the integration of the digital circuitry along with the RF components onto a single substrate significantly improves the size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) of the mm-wave receiver module compared to previous iterations of the module. Also comparing with previous generation modules, the operating frequency has been pushed from 77 GHz to 95 GHz in order to improve the resolution of the captured image from the sparse array imaging system.

This paper presents the pulse propagation and gain saturation characteristics for different input optical pulse shapes with different energy levels in semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs). A finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) is used to solve the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation (MNLSE) for the simulation of nonlinear optical pulse propagation and gain saturation characteristics in the SOAs. In this MNLSE, the gain spectrum dynamics, gain saturation are taken into account those are depend on the carrier depletion, carrier heating, spectral hole-burning, group velocity dispersion, self-phase modulation and two photon absorption. From this simulation, we obtained the output waveforms and spectra for different input pulse shapes considering different input energy levels. It has shown that the output pulse shape has changed due to the variation of input parameters, such as input pulse shape, input pulse width, and input pulse energy levels. It also shown clearly that the peak position of the output waveforms are shifted toward the leading edge which is due to the gain saturation of the SOA. We also compared the gain saturation characteristics in the SOA for different input pulse shapes.

In this paper, we present results of detailed studies on amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and lasing achieved in a double-layer system consisted of a biopolymer based matrix loaded with 3-(1,1-dicyanoethenyl1)-1phenyl-4,5dihydro-1H-pyrazole organic nonlinear optical dye and photochromic polymer. The laser action was achieved via distributed feedback configuration with third order of Bragg scattering on surface relief grating generated in photochromic polymer. To excite the luminescence, we have used 6 ns pulses of Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. The ASE and lasing thresholds were estimated to be 17 mJ/cm2 and 11 mJ/cm2, respectively.

We present the design and realization of short-wavelength (λ = 4.53 μm) and buried-heterostructure quantum cascade lasers in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration. Watt-level, singlemode peak optical output power is demonstrated for typical non-tapered 4 μm wide and 5.25 mm long devices. Farfield measurements prove a symmetric, single transverse-mode emission in TM(00)-mode with typical divergences of 25° and 27° in and perpendicular to growth direction, respectively. We demonstrate singlemode tuning over a range of 7.9 cm(-1) for temperatures between 263K and 313K and also singlemode emission for different driving currents. The side mode suppression ratio is measured to be higher than 20 dB. PMID:23938833

A kind of novel fluorescence which possesses a potential application in wide-band opticalamplifying is reported in this paper. With 975-nm LD laser pumping and Yb(3+)-assisted energy transferring, the fluorescence of Tm(3+)in the tellurite glass can be measured with emission spectra in 1.4- and 1.6- microm bands, which would be continued to the 1.53 microm of the Er(3+). The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) is 170 nm(110 + 60nm), and the lifetimes come up to 0.66 and 1.46 ms. Then, an interpretation was given to the mechanism of IR fluorescence emission which is based on the energy transferring and up-conversion of Tm(3+), Yb(3+) and Er(3+). PMID:19101195

We investigated wavelength conversion for polarization multiplexing signal based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor opticalamplifier. We found that the converted signals endured crosstalk among the pol-muxed channels. We also proposed and demonstrated a wavelength conversion scheme with polarization diversity technique. By utilizing the technique, the converted polarization multiplexing signal can be received without crosstalk. In addition, the performance of the proposed system is numerically analyzed with respect to the bit error rate of the converted signal, different frequency spacing between signal and pump and modulated data rate. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme may be a promising method to realize transparent wavelength conversion for polarization multiplexing signals.

Optical transmission at 20 Gbit/s over standard singlemode and dispersion-shifted fiber has been investigated. By exploiting the chirp characteristic of the LiNbO3 modulator, a sensitivity penalty of less than 1 dB has been demonstrated over 20 km of standard fiber. With dispersion compensation, transmission over a single 80 km span of standard fiber was achieved with -32.7 dBm sensitivity. Transmission over 420 km of dispersion-shifted fiber was also demonstrated with an optical sensitivity of -31.1 dBm.

We apply an approach based on the Fokker-Planck equation to study the statistics of optical soliton parameters in the presence of additive noise. This rigorous method not only allows us to reproduce and justify the classical Gordon-Haus formula but also leads to new exact results. PMID:14587827

Optical fibers with bismuth-doped silicate and germanate glass cores were fabricated by the modified chemical vapor deposition technique (solution and vapor-phase Bi incorporation). The fibers revealed an efficient luminescence with a maximum in the 1050-1200 nm spectral range, FWHM up to 200 nm, and a lifetime of the order of 1 ms. PMID:17001368

The amplified spontaneous emission and gain characteristics of various fluorescent dyes, 2-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-6(2-(2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H,5H-benzo[ij] quinolizin-9-1)ethenyl)-4H-pyran-4-ylidene) propanedinitrile (DCJTB) and 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethyl-aminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM), doped in polystyrene (PS) matrices were studied and compared. It was found that DCJTB has a larger net gain, 40.72 cm^-1, a lower loss, 2.49 cm^-1, and a lower threshold, 0.16 (mJ/pulse)/cm^2, than DCM, which has a net gain of 11.95 cm^-1, a loss of 9.25 cm^-1, and a threshold of 4(mJ/pulse)/cm^2. The improvement of performance in DCJTB PS films is attributed to the larger free volume of DCJTB caused by the introduction of steric spacer groups into the DCJTB molecule.

We have proposed an all-optical AND logic gate based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) integrated with an optical filter. In the scheme proposed, the preferred logical function can be performed without using a continuous-wave (cw) signal. The modified nonlinear Schroedinger equation (MNLSE) is used for the modelling wave propagation in a SOA. The MNLSE takes into account all nonlinear effects relevant to pico- and sub-picosecond pulse durations and is solved by the finite-difference beam-propagation method (FD-BPM). Based on the simulation results, the optimal output signal with a 40-fJ energy can be obtained at a bit rate of 50 Gb s{sup -1}. In the simulations, besides the nonlinearities included in the model, the pattern effect of the signals propagating in the SOA medium and the effect of the input signal bit rate are extensively investigated to optimise the system performance. (optical logic elements)

A harsh environment-oriented distributed multipoint fiber optic gas sensor system realized by automatic gain control (AGC) technology is proposed. To improve the photoelectric signal reliability, the electronic variable gain can be modified in real time by an AGC closed-loop feedback structure to compensate for optical transmission loss which is caused by the fiber bend loss or other reasons. The deviation of the system based on AGC structure is below 4.02% when photoelectric signal decays due to fiber bending loss for bending radius of 5 mm, which is 20 times lower than the ordinary differential system. In addition, the AGC circuit with the same electric parameters can keep the baseline intensity of signals in different channels of the distributed multipoint sensor system at the same level. This avoids repetitive calibrations and streamlines the installation process. PMID:27483267

We developed an improved model in order to predict the RF behavior and the slow light properties of the SOA valid for any experimental conditions. It takes into account the dynamic saturation of the SOA, which can be fully characterized by a simple measurement, and only relies on material fitting parameters, independent of the optical intensity and the injected current. The present model is validated by showing a good agreement with experiments for small and large modulation indices. PMID:20173888

A description is given of a method for inversion of the contrast of optical radiation in a round-trip amplifier with a phase conjugation mirror and a phase nonreciprocal element. The system can be used to achieve high powers of contrast-reversed radiation because of compensation of phase distortions introduced by amplification.

In one embodiment, a laser oscillator is provided comprising an optical cavity, the optical cavity including a gain medium including an alkali vapor and a buffer gas, the buffer gas including .sup.3He gas, wherein if .sup.4He gas is also present in the buffer gas, the ratio of the concentration of the .sup.3He gas to the .sup.4He gas is greater than 1.37.times.10.sup.-6. Additionally, an optical excitation source is provided. Furthermore, the laser oscillator is capable of outputting radiation at a first frequency. In another embodiment, an apparatus is provided comprising a gain medium including an alkali vapor and a buffer gas including .sup.3He gas, wherein if .sup.4He gas is also present in the buffer gas, the ratio of the concentration of the .sup.3He gas to the .sup.4He gas is greater than 1.37.times.10.sup.-6. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

In this paper, we report the preparation and optical characterization of Pr(3+) doped lithium fluoro borate (LiFB) glasses for six different chemical compositions of Li2B4O7-BaF2-NaF-MO (where M=Mg, Ca, Cd and Pb), Li2B4O7-BaF2-NaF-MgO-CaO and Li2B4O7-BaF2-NaF-CdO-PbO. The structural and optical properties of these glasses were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), optical absorption and photoluminescence techniques. The optical absorption spectra of Pr(3+) ions in LiFB glasses have been recorded in the UV-VIS-NIR region. The optical absorption data are used to calculate various spectroscopic parameters such as Racah (E(1), E(2), E(3)) and spin-orbit interaction (ξ4f) parameters. Judd-Ofelt (J-O) (Ωλ where λ=2, 4 and 6) intensity parameters were determined by applying J-O theory, which in turn used to calculate the radiative properties such as radiative transition probabilities (A), radiative lifetimes (τR), integrated absorption cross-sections (Σ) and branching ratios (βr) for all emission levels of Pr(3+) ion in different LiFB glass matrices. By using the J-O theory and luminescence parameters, stimulated emission cross sections (σp) of prominent transitions, (3)P0→(3)H4 and (1)D2→(3)H4 of Pr(3+) ion in all LiFB glasses were calculated. (3)P0→(3)H4 possesses higher branching ratios and stimulated emission cross-sections for the Pr(3+):LiFB(Mg-Ca) glass, which can be used as a best laser excitation. The optical gain parameter (σpxτR) was noticed higher in Pr(3+):LiFB(Mg-Ca) and Pr(3+):LiFB(Cd-Pb) glasses for the transition (3)P0→(3)H4 transition, and these glasses have potential for optical amplification at 488 nm wavelength. PMID:27434876

Hot electron light emission and lasing in semiconductor heterostructure (Hellish) devices are surface emitters the operation of which is based on the longitudinal injection of electrons and holes in the active region. These devices can be designed to be used as vertical cavity surface emitting laser or, as in this study, as a vertical cavity semiconductor opticalamplifier (VCSOA). This study investigates the prospects for a Hellish VCSOA based on GaInNAs/GaAs material for operation in the 1.3-μm wavelength range. Hellish VCSOAs have increased functionality, and use undoped distributed Bragg reflectors; and this coupled with direct injection into the active region is expected to yield improvements in the gain and bandwidth. The design of the Hellish VCSOA is based on the transfer matrix method and the optical field distribution within the structure, where the determination of the position of quantum wells is crucial. A full assessment of Hellish VCSOAs has been performed in a device with eleven layers of Ga0.35In0.65N0.02As0.08/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) in the active region. It was characterised through I-V, L-V and by spectral photoluminescence, electroluminescence and electro-photoluminescence as a function of temperature and applied bias. Cavity resonance and gain peak curves have been calculated at different temperatures. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical results has been obtained. PMID:21711630

Hot electron light emission and lasing in semiconductor heterostructure (Hellish) devices are surface emitters the operation of which is based on the longitudinal injection of electrons and holes in the active region. These devices can be designed to be used as vertical cavity surface emitting laser or, as in this study, as a vertical cavity semiconductor opticalamplifier (VCSOA). This study investigates the prospects for a Hellish VCSOA based on GaInNAs/GaAs material for operation in the 1.3-μm wavelength range. Hellish VCSOAs have increased functionality, and use undoped distributed Bragg reflectors; and this coupled with direct injection into the active region is expected to yield improvements in the gain and bandwidth. The design of the Hellish VCSOA is based on the transfer matrix method and the optical field distribution within the structure, where the determination of the position of quantum wells is crucial. A full assessment of Hellish VCSOAs has been performed in a device with eleven layers of Ga0.35In0.65N0.02As0.08/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) in the active region. It was characterised through I-V, L-V and by spectral photoluminescence, electroluminescence and electro-photoluminescence as a function of temperature and applied bias. Cavity resonance and gain peak curves have been calculated at different temperatures. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical results has been obtained. PMID:21711630

We demonstrate a widely wavelength-tunable actively mode-locked fiber laser based on semiconductor opticalamplifier. Beneficiating from the actively mode-locking operation and the wavelength-tunable characteristics of a Fabry-Perot filter, different harmonic mode-locking orders, from the fundamental mode-locking order (18.9 MHz) to the 520th order (9.832 GHz), can be easily achieved. The spectral bandwidth corresponding to the fundamental repetition rate is 0.12 nm with the pulse duration of 9.8 ns, leading to the TBP value of 146, which is about 460 times the transform-limited value for soliton pulse. The highest repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses we obtained is 9.832 GHz, with a signal-to-noise ratio up to 50 dB. The theoretical transform-limited pulse duration is 21 ps. Meanwhile, the central wavelength can be continuously tuned over 43.4 nm range (1522.8-1566.2 nm). The higher repetition rate and the widely tuning wavelength range make the fiber laser to own great potential and promising prospects in areas such as optical communication and photonic analog-to-digital conversion (ADC).

Nowadays, optical networks are becoming dense while detecting faulty branches in the tree-structured networks has become problematic. Conventional methods are inconvenient as they require an engineer to visit the failure site to check the optical fiber using an optical time-domain reflectometer. An innovative monitoring technique for tree-structured network topology in Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs) by using the erbium-doped fiber amplifier to amplify the traffic signal is demonstrated, and in the meantime, a residual amplified spontaneous emission spectrum is used as the input signal to monitor the optical cable from the central office. Fiber Bragg gratings with distinct center wavelengths are employed to reflect the monitoring signals. Faulty branches of the tree-structured EPONs can be identified using a simple and low-cost receiver. We will show that this technique is capable of providing monitoring range up to 32 optical network units using a power meter with a sensitivity of -65 dBm while maintaining the bit error rate of 10-13.

This paper studies the strain (i.e. compressive (CS) and tensile (TS)) effects on the dynamic spectra of an amplified femtosecond pulse in a quantum well semiconductor opticalamplifier (QW-SOA) using quantum well transmission line modelling (QW-TLM) method. Based on the analysis of band structure, the gain spectrum as well as the spontaneous spectrum of quantum well (QW) in the CS, unstrained (US) and TS are investigated using QW-TLM and it was found that in the CS QW, the magnitude ratio of the gain spectrum and the spontaneous emission spectrum is the largest. Furthermore, QW-TLM is adopted to investigate the dynamic spectral evolution of femtosecond pulse amplification in QW-SOAs and it was found that as the femtosecond pulse approaches the amplifier output, the centre frequency of the amplified femtosecond pulse spectra decreases and its bandwidth decreases. The output spectra of the amplified femtosecond pulse in QW amplifiers under the CS, US and TS cases are compared and the simulation results show that in a CS QW-SOA the spectral shape exhibits the largest magnitude and the smallest fluctuation due to the largest gain and the largest ratio between the gain and noise.

We numerically investigate the effect of the wetting-layer (WL) density of states on the gain and phase recovery dynamics of quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers in both electrical and optical pumping schemes by solving 1088 coupled rate equations. The temporal variations of the ultrafast gain and phase recovery responses at the ground state (GS) are calculated as a function of the WL density of states. The ultrafast gain recovery responses do not significantly depend on the WL density of states in the electrical pumping scheme and the three optical pumping schemes such as the optical pumping to the WL, the optical pumping to the excited state ensemble, and the optical pumping to the GS ensemble. The ultrafast phase recovery responses are also not significantly affected by the WL density of states except the optical pumping to the WL, where the phase recovery component caused by the WL becomes slowed down as the WL density of states increases.

The feasibility of increasing by a factor of two the data speed of the semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-based ultrafast nonlinear interferometer in dual rail switching mode by means of a cascaded optical delay interferometer (ODI) is explored and shown through numerical simulation. From the theoretical analysis it has been found that such extension cannot be done without employing this passive element for any selection of the critical parameters but the SOA carrier lifetime, for which the requirements are yet very demanding. If, however, the time delay introduced by the ODI is adjusted to almost 1/3rd of the bit period, then the result of Boolean XOR operation can be improved for a specified range of parameter values, which can be further selected to be more relaxed than is possible when the ODI is not being used. The use of the ODI allows both error-free and pattern-free performance at the output of the interferometric structure configured as ultrafast XOR gate. In this manner the scheme can offer a practical alternative solution for extending the operating rate of this logical module and enabling its exploitation as a basic building unit in more sophisticated all-optical circuits and subsystems.

We propose and demonstrate a long-reach wavelength division multiplexed-passive optical networks (WDM-PON) based on reflective semiconductor opticalamplifiers (RSOAs) with easy maintenance of the optical source. Unlike previous studies the proposed WDM-PON uses two RSOAs: one for wavelength-selected light generation to provide a constant seed light to the second RSOA, the other for active external modulation. This method is free from intensity-fluctuated power penalties inherent to directly modulated single-RSOA sources, making long-reach transmission possible. Also, the wavelength of the modulated signal can easily be changed for the same RSOA by replacing the external feedback reflector, such as a fiber Bragg grating, or via thermal tuning. The seed light has a high-side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 45 dB, and the bit error rate (BER) curve reveals that the upstream 1.25-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) signal with a pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) of length of 215-1 has power penalties of 0.22 and 0.69 dB at BERs of 10-9 after 55-km and 110-km transmission due to fiber dispersion, respectively.

The development and application of optical parametric (OP) systems with pulsed dye amplifiers producing single frequency mode (SFM), narrow linewidth, and tunable laser radiation for high-spectral-resolution laser diagnostics is described. An optical parametric generator (OPG) was developed, consisting of a pair of counter-rotating β barium borate (β-BBO) crystals pumped by third-harmonic output of an injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser. The OPG crystals themselves are injection-seeded using a continuous wave (cw) distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser or external cavity diode laser (ECDL) at idler wavelength. The OPG is converted for some applications into an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) by incorporating a feedback cavity. The signal output from the OP system is amplified using pulsed dye amplifiers. The PDAs are pumped either by second-harmonic or third-harmonic output of the Nd:YAG laser depending on the OP output wavelength and the dye solution used in PDAs. The linewidth of the laser beam produced using OP/PDA systems is 200 MHz and the spatial beam profile is nearly Gaussian. Initial application of OP/PDA system included two-photon laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of atomic oxygen in counter-flow flames, dual pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) for N2 and CO2, and nitric oxide (NO) planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) in compressible flowfield. A two-photon pump polarization spectroscopy probe (TPP-PSP) laser system has also been developed using two SFM OPG/PDA systems for the detection of atomic hydrogen (H-atom) in flames. In TPP-PSP, a 243-nm pump beam excites the 1S-2S two photon transition and the excited atoms in 2S level are probed by polarization spectroscopy between n=2 and n=3 manifolds using a circularly polarized 656-nm pump and a linearly polarized 656-nm probe laser beam. Using the TPP-PSP scheme, atomic hydrogen was detected at concentrations as low as 11 ppm. The use of injection-seeded OPG/PDAs as SFM sources for the

We present for the first time an optical encrypting-decrypting protocol for recovering messages without speckle noise. This is a digital holographic technique using a 2f scheme to process QR codes entries. In the procedure, letters used to compose eventual messages are individually converted into a QR code, and then each QR code is divided into portions. Through a holographic technique, we store each processed portion. After filtering and repositioning, we add all processed data to create a single pack, thus simplifying the handling and recovery of multiple QR code images, representing the first multiplexing procedure applied to processed QR codes. All QR codes are recovered in a single step and in the same plane, showing neither cross-talk nor noise problems as in other methods. Experiments have been conducted using an interferometric configuration and comparisons between unprocessed and recovered QR codes have been performed, showing differences between them due to the involved processing. Recovered QR codes can be successfully scanned, thanks to their noise tolerance. Finally, the appropriate sequence in the scanning of the recovered QR codes brings a noiseless retrieved message. Additionally, to procure maximum security, the multiplexed pack could be multiplied by a digital diffuser as to encrypt it. The encrypted pack is easily decoded by multiplying the multiplexing with the complex conjugate of the diffuser. As it is a digital operation, no noise is added. Therefore, this technique is threefold robust, involving multiplexing, encryption, and the need of a sequence to retrieve the outcome.

High finesse optical cavities are an essential tool in modern precision laser interferometry. The incident laser field is often controlled and stabilized with an active feedback system such that the field resonates in the cavity. The Pound-Drever-Hall reflection locking technique is a convenient way to derive a suitable error signal. However, it only gives a strong signal within the cavity linewidth. This poses a problem for locking an ultra-narrow linewidth cavity. We present a novel technique for acquiring lock by utilizing an additional weak control signal, but with a much larger capture range. We numerically show that this technique can be applied to the laser frequency stabilization system used in the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which has a linewidth of 0.8 Hz. This new technique will allow us to robustly and repeatedly lock the LIGO laser frequency to the common mode of the interferometer. PMID:26466252

The erbium-lithium ion exchange is presented as a method for the erbium local doping of lithium niobate crystals. Ion exchange process is performed immersing the LiNbO3 substrates in a liquid melt, containing erbium ions; due to their high mobility, the lithium ions migrate from the crystal to the melt, and are replaced by erbium ions. A systematic analysis of the doping process is performed, and the influence of the process parameters is investigated: exchange time and temperature, crystal cut direction, composition and chemical reactivity of the Er ions liquid source. By structural (X-Ray Diffraction and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry), compositional (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) and spectroscopic techniques (optical spectroscopy and micro-luminescence), the formation of lithium deficient phases and the incorporation of the Er ions into the LiNbO3 matrix is studied.

Momentum modulation of a relativistic electron beam by a Nd:YAG laser is demonstrated. The electrons, at 100 MeV energy, interact with the laser light in helium gas at standard temperature and pressure. At an angle of 6.55 mrad between the two wavevectors, corresponding to the Cerenkov angle, a given electron remains in a field of constant phase as it passes through the light beam. The experimental arrangement is illustrated showing the trajectories of the electron and light. The particle momentum is measured by a mass spectrometer, and the angle between the wavevectors is controlled by a rotatable mirror. Experimental results indicate that momentum modulation of an electron beam may be used for amplification. A possible configuration for an optical klystron is illustrated.

We describe a system for generating frequency-chirped and amplitude-shaped pulses on time scales from sub-nanosecond to ten nanoseconds. The system starts with cw diode-laser light at 780 nm and utilizes fiber-based electro-optical phase and intensity modulators, driven by an arbitrary waveform generator, to generate the shaped pulses. These pulses are subsequently amplified to several hundred mW with a tapered amplifier in a delayed double-pass configuration. Frequency chirps up to 5 GHz in 2 ns and pulse widths as short as 0.15 ns have been realized. PMID:26906832

We describe a system for generating frequency-chirped and amplitude-shaped pulses on time scales from sub-nanosecond to ten nanoseconds. The system starts with cw diode-laser light at 780 nm and utilizes fiber-based electro-optical phase and intensity modulators, driven by an arbitrary waveform generator, to generate the shaped pulses. These pulses are subsequently amplified to several hundred mW with a tapered amplifier in a delayed double-pass configuration. Frequency chirps up to 5 GHz in 2 ns and pulse widths as short as 0.15 ns have been realized.

The improvement of pulse amplifiers used with scintillation detectors is described. The pulse amplifier circuit has the advantage of reducing the harmful effects of overloading cause by large signal inputs. In general the pulse amplifier circuit comprises two amplifier tubes with the input pulses applied to one amplifier grid and coupled to the second amplifier tube through a common cathode load. The output of the second amplifier is coupled from the plate circuit to a cathode follower tube grid and a diode tube in connected from grid to cathode of the cathode follower tube. Degenerative feedback is provided in the second amplifier by coupling a signal from the cathode follower cathode to the second amplifier grid. The circuit proqides moderate gain stability, and overload protection for subsequent pulse circuits.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the temporal-Talbot-effect (TTE)-based preprocessing for the pattern-effect reduction in the all-optical clock recovery using a semiconductor-optical-amplifier (SOA)-based fiber ring laser (SOA-FRL). The TTE-based preprocessing successfully reduced the pattern effects of the recovered clock pulses, so that the 10-GHz clear optical clock pulses were recovered from a 10-Gbit/s return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) optical signal. "Peak variation" and "Pattern-dependent intensity noise (PDIN)" were proposed and were utilized as parameters to quantitatively evaluate the pattern effects, from which recovered clock pulses suffer, in the temporal domain and the frequency domain, respectively. Peak variation was reduced from 77.2% to 36.2%, and PDIN was improved from -103 dBc/Hz to -110 dBc/Hz with the aid of the TTE-based preprocessing. Furthermore, we examined the tolerance of the proposed technique by intentionally deviating the input signal's bit-rate by ±190 Mbit/s (±2% of the bit-rate) from the optimum condition for the TTE. As compared with the PDIN value for the pulse train obtained by the direct injection of the non-processed signal into the SOA-FRL, the PDIN of the recovered clock pulses using the preprocessed signal indicated improvements over the entire measurement range of ±190 Mbit/s, which corresponds to the wavelength-dispersion deviation of ±56 ps/nm (±4% of the wavelength-dispersion applied to the input signal) from the optimum value.

Observations of strongly enhanced optical transition radiation (OTR) following significant bunch compression of photoinjector beams by a chicane have been reported during the commissioning of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator and recently at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) linac. These localized transverse spatial features involve signal enhancements of nearly a factor of 10 and 100 in the APS case at the 150-MeV and 375-MeV OTR stations, respectively. They are consistent with a coherent process seeded by noise and may be evidence of a longitudinal space charge (LSC) microbunching instability which leads to coherent OTR (COTR) emissions. Additionally, we suggest that localized transverse structure in the previous self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) data at APS in the visible-UV regime as reported at FEL02 may be attributed to such beam structure entering the FEL undulators and inducing the SASE startup at those structures. Separate beam structures 120 microns apart in x and 2.9 nm apart in wavelength were reported. The details of these observations and operational parameters will be presented.

We propose a novel scheme for injection of assist-light into the active region of a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) for fast gain recovery. In the proposed scheme, the assist-light is coupled into the active region of the SOA through an adjacent channel waveguide. Numerical results based on the well established model for carrier dynamics in SOA show that the gain recovery is faster in the proposed scheme as compared to the earlier reported scheme of counter-propagating assist-light injection. Our analysis shows that a desired power profile of the assist-light can be maintained in the active region of the SOA by tailoring the coupling through suitable design of the adjacent channel waveguide. The dependence of gain recovery on the input power of the assist-light in the proposed scheme has also been studied. Under typical operating conditions, it is found that 20 dBm of assist-light power injection in the proposed scheme is as effective as 27 dBm of assist-light power in the counter-propagating scheme.

The feasibility of implementing reconfigurable ultrafast all-optical NOR and NAND gates by employing a single Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifiers (QD-SOAs) is theoretically investigated. The reconfiguration of the scheme that allows conversion from one gate to the other is achieved by simply turning on or off a clock signal, while the complement of one of the data signals is used too as input for both gates. By conducting a numerical simulation, the conditions under which the QD-SOA-based MZI must be adjusted to operate so as to simultaneously ensure an acceptable extinction ratio for the NOR and amplitude modulation for the NAND are specified. This procedure is more demanding than when each gate is considered separately. Nevertheless it is possible to extract technologically realistic and achievable guidelines for the data signals and QD-SOAs characteristics in order for these gates to be jointly designed without modifying the fundamental structure or data driving mode of the MZI switch. In this manner a permissible range and a proper selection of values for the critical performance parameters that is common for these universal logic gates is derived, which enables both of them to be realized with a logically correct and high quality outcome.

The possibility of implementing an ultrafast all-optical XOR gate using a single semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-based ultrafast nonlinear interferometer (UNI) is theoretically investigated and demonstrated. For this purpose a comprehensive model that characterizes the performance of a SOA when it is successively driven by two strong pseudorandom binary sequences is applied to simulate the specific module under dual rail switching mode of operation. In this manner an extensive set of curves is obtained allowing to analyze and evaluate the impact of the input data, SOA and interferometer critical parameters on the fully loaded Q-factor. Their thorough study and interpretation reveals that the satisfaction of their requirements in order to render acceptable this metric is feasible from a technological perspective and thus if their selection is made according to the extracted guidelines then pattern-free and error-free modulo-2 arithmetic can be straightforwardly realized at 20 Gb/s. This prediction can be of practical interest in simplifying and assisting the design of more sophisticated interconnections of enhanced combinatorial and sequential functionality in which the XOR gate is the core logical unit.

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300–1/100 when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10{sup −5}M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process.

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300-1/100 when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10-5M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process.

Superfluorescence appears as an intense background in femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence noncollinear optical parametric amplification spectroscopy, which severely interferes the reliable acquisition of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra especially for an optically dilute sample. Superfluorescence originates from the optical amplification of the vacuum quantum noise, which would be inevitably concomitant with the amplified fluorescence photons during the optical parametric amplification process. Here, we report the development of a femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence non-collinear optical parametric amplification spectrometer assisted with a 32-channel lock-in amplifier for efficient rejection of the superfluorescence background. With this spectrometer, the superfluorescence background signal can be significantly reduced to 1/300-1/100 when the seeding fluorescence is modulated. An integrated 32-bundle optical fiber is used as a linear array light receiver connected to 32 photodiodes in one-to-one mode, and the photodiodes are further coupled to a home-built 32-channel synchronous digital lock-in amplifier. As an implementation, time-resolved fluorescence spectra for rhodamine 6G dye in ethanol solution at an optically dilute concentration of 10(-5)M excited at 510 nm with an excitation intensity of 70 nJ/pulse have been successfully recorded, and the detection limit at a pump intensity of 60 μJ/pulse was determined as about 13 photons/pulse. Concentration dependent redshift starting at 30 ps after the excitation in time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this dye has also been observed, which can be attributed to the formation of the excimer at a higher concentration, while the blueshift in the earlier time within 10 ps is attributed to the solvation process. PMID:26724012

When an environmental disturbance to a quantum system has a wavelength much larger than the system size, all qubits in the system are under the action of the same error operator. The noiseless subsystem and decoherence-free subspace are immune to such collective noise. We construct simple quantum circuits that implement these error-avoiding codes for a small number n of physical qubits. A single logical qubit is encoded with n=3 and 4, while two and three logical qubits are encoded with n=5 and 7, respectively. Recursive relations among subspaces employed in these codes play essential roles in our implementation.

If the VCO of a phase-locked receiver is to be replaced by a digitally programmed synthesizer, the phase error signal must be sampled and quantized. Effects of quantizing after the loop filter (frequency quantization) or before (phase error quantization) are investigated. Constant Doppler or Doppler rate noiseless inputs are assumed. The main result gives the phase jitter due to frequency quantization for a Doppler-rate input. By itself, however, frequency quantization is impractical because it makes the loop dynamic range too small.

An improved setup for femtosecond two-photon photoemission spectroscopy (TR-2PPE) is presented. Two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers (NOPA) were operated simultaneously at a repetition rate of 150 kHz. The frequencies of the NOPA outputs were tuned such that subsequent second harmonic generation (SHG) provided the two different ultraviolet wavelengths required for the pump and probe pulse. The width of the crosscorrelation function (CC) for pump and probe pulse was sub-30 fs (FWHM).

High output power 40 GHz 1.55 μm passively mode-locked surface-etched distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers with monolithically integrated semiconductor opticalamplifiers are reported. These are based on an optimized AlGaInAs/InP epitaxial structure with a three quantum well active layer and an optical trap layer. The device produces near transform limited Gaussian pulses with a pulse duration of 3.3 ps. An average output power during mode-locked operation of 130 mW was achieved with a corresponding peak power of >1 W. PMID:22297347

A high performance four-tilted stripe semiconductor opticalamplifier array, with low polarization sensitivity and very low-gain ripple, compatible with self-aligned flip-chip mounting on a Si motherboard is reported. Up to 32 dB of internal gain with 2-dB polarization sensitivity is obtained. A multifiber module has been realized, following an almost static optical alignment procedure, showing no degradation of the SOA array performances. Fiber-to-fiber gain, measured on the four stripes, is 14.4 +/- 1.3 dB with a gain ripple below +/- 0.1 dB.

X-ray free electron lasers (xFEL) will open new avenues to the virtually unexplored territory of non-linear interactions of x rays with matter. Initially xFELs will be based on the principle of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE). Each SASE pulse consists of a number of coherent intensity spikes of random amplitude, i.e. the process is chaotic and pulses are irreproducible. The coherence time of SASE xFELs will be a few femtoseconds for a photon energy near 1 keV. The importance of coherence properties of light in non-linear optical processes was theoretically discovered in the early 1960s. In this contribution we will illustrate the impact of field chaoticity on x-ray non-linear optical processes on neon for photon energies around 1 keV and intensities up to 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}. Resonant and non-resonant processes are discussed. The first process to be addressed is the formation of a double-core hole in neon by photoionization with x rays above 1.25 keV energy. In contrast to the long-wavelength regime, non-linear optical processes in the x-ray regime are characterized in general by sequential single-photon single-electron interactions. Despite this fact, the sequential absorption of multiple x-ray photons depends on the statistical properties of the radiation field. Treating the x rays generated by a SASE FEL as fully chaotic, a quantum-mechanical analysis of inner-shell two-photon absorption is performed. By solving a system of time-dependent rate equations, we demonstrate that double-core hole formation in neon via x-ray two-photon absorption is enhanced by chaotic photon statistics. At an intensity of 10{sup 16} W/cm{sup 2}, the statistical enhancement is about 30%, much smaller than typical values in the optical regime. The second part of this presentation discusses the resonant Auger effect of atomic neon at the 1s-3p transition (at 867.1 eV). For low X-ray intensity, the excitation process 1s {yields} 3p in Neon can be treated perturbatively. The

We report on quasi-continuously pumped oscillator-amplifier laser system. The laser oscillator was based on highly 2.4 at.% doped crystalline Nd:YAG in a bounce geometry and passively mode locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Using the cavity dumping technique, 19 ps pulses with the energy of 20 μJ and Gaussian spatial beam profile were generated directly from the oscillator at the repetition rate up to 50 Hz. For applications requiring more energetic pulses the amplification was studied using either an identical highly doped Nd:YAG module in bounce geometry or flashlamp pumped Nd:YAG laser rod. Using compact all diode pumped oscillator-amplifier system, 130 μJ pulses were generated. The flashlamp pumped amplifier with 100 mm long Nd:YAG enabled to obtain higher energy. In the single pass configuration the pulse was amplified to 4.5 mJ, using the double pass configuration the pulse energy was further increased up to 20 mJ with the duration of 25 ps at 10 Hz. The developed laser system was used for investigation of stimulated Raman scattering in Strontium Barium Niobate and optical parametric generation in CdSiP2.

A logarithmic current amplifier circuit having a high sensitivity and fast response is described. The inventor discovered the time constant of the input circuit of a system utilizing a feedback amplifier, ionization chamber, and a diode, is inversely proportional to the input current, and that the amplifier becomes unstable in amplifying signals in the upper frequency range when the amplifier's forward gain time constant equals the input circuit time constant. The described device incorporates impedance networks having low frequency response characteristic at various points in the circuit to change the forward gain of the amplifler at a rate of 0.7 of the gain magnitude for every two times increased in frequency. As a result of this improvement, the time constant of the input circuit is greatly reduced at high frequencies, and the amplifier response is increased.

We report on a high-power periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN)-based femtosecond optical parametric amplifier (OPA), featuring a spectral seamless broadband mid-infrared (MIR) output. By modifying the initial chirp and spectrum of the mode-locked seed laser, the Yb fiber pump laser exhibits a final output power of 14 W with sub-200-fs pulse duration after power amplification and compression. When the OPA was seeded with a broadband amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source, a damage-limited 0.6 W broadband MIR radiation was experimentally obtained under the pump power of 10.15 W at 82 MHz repetition rate, corresponding to an overall OPA conversion efficiency of 32.7%. The 3 dB bandwidth of the mid-IR idler was 291.9 nm, centering at 3.34 μm. PMID:26670509

Addresses the introduction of low cost equipment into high school and college physical science classes. Examines the properties of an "ideal" operational amplifier and discusses how it might be used under saturated and non-saturated conditions. Notes the action of a "real" operational amplifier. (TW)

Fully integrated semiconductor master-oscillator power-amplifiers (MOPA) with a tapered power amplifier are attractive sources for applications requiring high brightness. The geometrical design of the tapered amplifier is crucial to achieve the required power and beam quality. In this work we investigate by numerical simulation the role of the geometrical design in the beam quality and in the maximum achievable power. The simulations were performed with a Quasi-3D model which solves the complete steady-state semiconductor and thermal equations combined with a beam propagation method. The results indicate that large devices with wide taper angles produce higher power with better beam quality than smaller area designs, but at expenses of a higher injection current and lower conversion efficiency.

By definition, a high fidelity amplifier's instantaneous output voltage is directly proportional to its instantaneous input voltage. While high fidelity is generally valued in the amplification of recorded music, nonlinearity, also known as distortion, is desirable in the amplification of some musical instruments. In particular, guitar amplifiers exploit nonlinearity to increase both the harmonic content and sustain of a guitar's sound. I will discuss how both modifications in sound result from saturation of triode tubes and transistors. Additionally, I will describe the difference in the symmetry of saturation curves for transistors and tubes and the reason why tube guitar amplifiers are generally considered to be superior to solid-state amplifiers. Finally, I will discuss attempts to use solid-state electronics to replicate the sound of tube amplifiers.

We report the passive phase locking of four high power Yb-doped fiber amplifiers with ring cavity. The interference patterns at different output power are observed and the Strehl ratios are measured. The maximum coherent output power of the fiber array is up to 1062 W by multi-stage amplification. The stable beam profiles of various phase relationships are observed by controlling the position of the feedback fiber, in good agreement with the calculated results. By using master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) architecture and broadband operation of passively phased systems, higher power scaling with high beam quality appears to be feasible.

The current through a helical edge state of a quantum spin Hall insulator may be fully transmitted through a magnetically gapped region due to a combination of spin-transfer torque and spin pumping [Meng et al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 205403 (2014), 10.1103/PhysRevB.90.205403]. Using a scattering approach, we here argue that in such a system the current is effectively carried by electrons with energies below the magnet-induced gap and well below the Fermi energy. This has striking consequences, such as the absence of shot noise, an exponential suppression of thermal noise, and an obstruction of thermal transport. For two helical edges covered by the same quantum magnet, the device can act as a robust noiseless current splitter.

A universal noiseless coding structure was developed that provides efficient performance over an extremely broad range of source entropy. This is accomplished by adaptively selecting the best of several easily implemented variable length coding algorithms. Custom VLSI coder and decoder modules capable of processing over 20 million samples per second are currently under development. The first of the code options used in this module development is shown to be equivalent to a class of Huffman code under the Humblet condition, other options are shown to be equivalent to the Huffman codes of a modified Laplacian symbol set, at specified symbol entropy values. Simulation results are obtained on actual aerial imagery, and they confirm the optimality of the scheme. On sources having Gaussian or Poisson distributions, coder performance is also projected through analysis and simulation.

The algorithmic definitions, performance characterizations, and application notes for a high-performance adaptive noiseless coding module are provided. Subsets of these algorithms are currently under development in custom very large scale integration (VLSI) at three NASA centers. The generality of coding algorithms recently reported is extended. The module incorporates a powerful adaptive noiseless coder for Standard Data Sources (i.e., sources whose symbols can be represented by uncorrelated non-negative integers, where smaller integers are more likely than the larger ones). Coders can be specified to provide performance close to the data entropy over any desired dynamic range (of entropy) above 0.75 bit/sample. This is accomplished by adaptively choosing the best of many efficient variable-length coding options to use on each short block of data (e.g., 16 samples) All code options used for entropies above 1.5 bits/sample are 'Huffman Equivalent', but they require no table lookups to implement. The coding can be performed directly on data that have been preprocessed to exhibit the characteristics of a standard source. Alternatively, a built-in predictive preprocessor can be used where applicable. This built-in preprocessor includes the familiar 1-D predictor followed by a function that maps the prediction error sequences into the desired standard form. Additionally, an external prediction can be substituted if desired. A broad range of issues dealing with the interface between the coding module and the data systems it might serve are further addressed. These issues include: multidimensional prediction, archival access, sensor noise, rate control, code rate improvements outside the module, and the optimality of certain internal code options.

We have fabricated an erbium-doped phosphate glass fiber with a silica cladding and used 5 cm length of it to form an opticalamplifier. A bulk erbium phosphate glass called MM2 was used as a core glass in a silica cladding tube to prepare a preform using "core-suction" technique. This MM2 glass preform was drawn to a fiber and the resultant fiber was of good optical quality, free from air bubbles and major defects. The fiber was mechanically strong enough to allow for ease of handling and could be spliced to conventional silica fiber using commercial fusion splicer. This fiber was then used to setup an EDFA. Our work demonstrates the potential to form silica clad optical fibers with phosphate cores doped with very high levels of rare-earth ions. It is demonstrated that the core suction technique can be used to make a high-gain erbium phosphate fiber amplifier that is compatible with conventional silica fibers.

The temporal structure and phase evolutions of a high-gain, self-amplified free-electron laser are measured, including single-shot analysis and statistics over many shots. Excellent agreement with the theory of free-electron laser and photon statistics is found.

A tapered optical fiber amplifier is designed to provide for long-distance, un-repeatered fiber optic communications. Two single-mode fiber portions are tapered to efficiently intensify and couple an information signal from a laser diode and a pump signal at a shorter wavelength into a fused, tapered single-mode fiber optic coupler. The concentrated information signal and concentrated pump signal are combined via the coupler which is coupled to a several-kilometer length of a relatively small core diametered single-mode fiber to create nonlinear optical effect (stimulated Raman scattering) (SRS). The SRS causes Raman shift of the pump light into the small core diametered single-mode fiber length, thereby generating SRS to result in a signal amplification and an efficient extraction of the amplified signal via the tapered output fiber portion or pigtail.

Sources of long wavelengths few-cycle high repetition rate pulses are becoming increasingly important for a plethora of applications, e.g., in high-field physics. Here, we report on the realization of a tunable optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier at 100 kHz repetition rate. At a central wavelength of 2 μm, the system delivered 33 fs pulses and a 6 W average power corresponding to 60 μJ pulse energy with gigawatt-level peak powers. Idler absorption and its crystal heating is experimentally investigated for a BBO. Strategies for further power scaling to several tens of watts of average power are discussed. PMID:26625047

Polarization insensitive 1310 nm InGaAsP-InP multi-quantum-well (MQW) semiconductor opticalamplifiers (SOAs), with 7° tilted ridge waveguide and buried-window end facets, have been fabricated and fully characterized on chip and module level. SOAs chips with an optimized complex strained MQW active region exhibited less than 1 dB polarization dependence of amplified spontaneous power in the drive current range of 50-200 mA. The amplifier module, having a residual facet reflectivity of 2.8 × 10-5, achieved 25 dB fibre-to-fibre unsaturated gain, for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarization states, 11.2 dBm saturation output power, and 7.6 dB noise figure at 1310 nm. The polarization dependence of gain was less than 0.6 dB in the 3 dB gain bandwidth of 56 nm. Coupling efficiency played a significant role in the gain, saturation output power and noise figure of a SOA module. Spot-size-converter integrated SOAs with buried heterostructures are expected to exhibit further improved performances.

A gyromagnetron amplifier for radiation at millimeter wavelengths comprising a tapered waveguide tube with longitudinally running vanes in the walls of the tube with the number of vanes chosen to coincide with a desired cyclotron harmonic frequency to be amplified. A beam of spiralling mildly relativistic electrons with an energy of 100 keV or less is directed into the small end of the tapered waveguide tube. A tapered axial magnetic field is set up within the waveguide tube with a low value appropriate to the amplification of a cyclotron harmonic frequency. An electromagnetic wave to be amplified is launched into the waveguide tube to co-propagate and be amplified by the spiralling electron beam. This device is characterized by a wide bandwidth, a low operating magnetic field, a relatively low operating beam voltage, with high power, and the capability of continuous wave operation.

We present the first in-band diode-pumped TDFAs operating in the 2 µm wavelength region and test their suitability as high performance amplifiers in potential future telecommunication networks. We demonstrate amplification over a 240 nm wide window in the range 1810 - 2050 nm with up to 36 dB gain and noise figure as low as 4.5 dB. PMID:24216865

Using a multiple-scale asymptotic approach, we have derived the complex cubic Ginzburg-Landau equation for amplified and nonlinearly saturated surface plasmon polaritons propagating and diffracting along a metal-dielectric interface. An important feature of our method is that it explicitly accounts for nonlinear terms in the boundary conditions, which are critical for a correct description of nonlinear surface waves. Using our model we have analyzed filamentation and discussed the bright and dark spatially localized structures of plasmons.

Wavelength reuse in a bidirectional radio-over-fiber link is proposed and demonstrated based on the cross-gain modulation (XGM) and the cross-polarization modulation in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA). With a polarization beam splitter placed at the remote antenna unit, the polarization-modulated signal generated at the SOA is converted into noninverted and inverted intensity-modulated signals. The noninverted signal is used to cancel the inverted XGM-induced intensity-modulated signal to form a clean optical carrier for wavelength reuse in upstream signal transmission, while the inverted intensity-modulated signal is combined constructively to enhance the XGM-induced signal, providing robust downlink service. A bidirectional transmission of 5 GHz RF signal carrying a 50 MBaud 16 quadrature amplitude modulation baseband signal is experimentally implemented. The error vector magnitude degradation due to the fiber transmission for both the downlink and uplink signal is about 0.2%. PMID:24104797

A broadband photonic single sideband (SSB) frequency up-converter based on the cross polarization modulation (XPolM) effect in a semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. An optical radio frequency (RF) signal in the form of an optical single sideband (OSSB) is generated by the photonic SSB frequency up-converter to solve the power fading problem caused by fiber chromatic dispersion. The generated OSSB RF signal has almost identical optical carrier power and optical sideband power. This SSB frequency up-conversion scheme shows an almost flat electrical RF power response as a function of the RF frequency in a range from 31 GHz to 75 GHz after 40 km single mode fiber (SMF) transmission. The photonic SSB frequency up-conversion technique shows negligible phase noise degradation. The phase noise of the up-converted RF signal at 49 GHz for an offset of 10 kHz is -93.17 dBc/Hz. Linearity analysis shows that the photonic SSB frequency up-converter has a spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) value of 79.51 dB · Hz(2/3). PMID:24514980

Materials for optical waveguides were developed from two different approaches, inorganic-organic composites and soft gel polymers. Inorganic-organic composites were developed from alkoxysilane and organically modified silanes based on nonlinear optical chromophores. Organically modified silanes based on N-((3^' -trialkoxysilyl)propyl)-4-nitroaniline were synthesized and sol-gelled with trimethoxysilane. After a densification process at 190^circC with a corona discharge, the second harmonic of the film was measured with a Nd:YAG laser with a fundamental wavelength of 1064nm, d_{33} = 13pm/V. The decay of the second harmonic was expressed by a stretched bi-exponential equation. The decay time (tau _2) was equal to 3374 hours, and was comparable to nonlinear optical systems based on epoxy/Disperse Orange 1. The processing temperature of the organically modified silane was limited to 200^circC due to the decomposition of the organic chromophore. Soft gel polymers were synthesized and characterized for the development of optical waveguides with dc-electrical field assisted phase-matching. Polymers based on 4-nitroaniline terminated poly(ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide) were shown to exhibit second harmonic generation that were optically phase-matched in an electrical field. The optical signals were stable and reproducible. Siloxane polymers modified with 1-mercapto-4-nitrobenzene and 1-mercapto-4-methylsulfonylstilbene nonlinear optical chromophores were synthesized. The physical and the linear and nonlinear optical properties of the polymers were characterized. Waveguides were developed from the polymers which were optically phase -matched and had an efficiency of 8.1%. The siloxane polymers exhibited optical phase-matching in an applied electrical field and can be used with a semiconductor laser. Organic lanthanide ion complexes for electroluminescence and opticalamplifiers were synthesized and characterized. The complexes were characterized for their thermal and

We describe a few-cycle intense optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) in the IR that is based on bismuth triborate (BiB3O6, BIBO) crystals. Two Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification systems are used to generate seed and pump pulses for the OPCPA. Carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stabilized seed pulses in the IR are produced by difference frequency mixing of white light spanning from the visible to near IR range. The seed pulses, which have a nearly one octave-spanning spectrum around 1.6 μm, are temporally stretched in an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter and amplified up to 550 μJ in two BIBO-based parametric amplifiers without losing their bandwidth. After compression in a fused silica block, we obtained 9.2 fs optical pulses with a repetition rate of 1 kHz, which comprise less than two optical cycles at 1.6 μm. These optical pulses were used to generate extreme ultraviolet (XUV) high harmonics in krypton. We succeeded in measuring the CEP dependence of the XUV radiation near the silicon L edge around 100 eV, verifying the passive stabilization of the CEP of the sub-two cycle IR pulses. The XUV spectra consist of two half-cycle cutoffs and show a clear transition from a modulated structure to a continuum near the cutoff. The continuum-like spectra as well as their CEP dependence indicate that they originate in a single recombination burst, showing that few-cycle IR OPCPA light sources are capable of generating attosecond pulses in the XUV region.

Electronic,amplifier circuits, especially a logai-ithmic amplifier characterizxed by its greatly improved strability are discussed. According to the in ention, means are provided to feed bach the output valtagee to a diode in the amplifier input circuit, the diode being utilized to produce the logarithmic characteristics. The diode is tics, The diode isition therewith and having its filament operated from thc same source s the filament of the logarithmic diode. A bias current of relatively large value compareii with the signal current is continuously passed through the compiting dioie to render the diode insensitivy to variations in the signal current. by this odes kdu to variaelled, so that the stability of the amlifier will be unimpaired.

We propose a flat-top bandpass microwave photonic filter (MPF) with flexible tunability of the bandwidth and center frequency based on optical nonlinearities in a Fabry-Pérot semiconductor opticalamplifier (FP-SOA). Phase-inverted modulation induced by cross-gain modulation (XGM) and optical spectral broadening induced by self-phase modulation (SPM) are exploited to achieve flat-top and bandwidth tuning, respectively. Wideband and continuous tuning of the center frequency is achieved by altering the bias current of the FP-SOA. Experimental results demonstrate a flat-top single-passband MPF with its center frequency tunable from 6.0 to 18.3 GHz by adjusting the bias current from 54.05 to 107.85 mA. The 3-dB bandwidth of the passband when centered at 10.0 GHz is shown to be variable from 680 to 1.43 GHz, by increasing the injected optical power from -1 to +5 dBm. During the bandwidth tuning, the amplitude ripple within the passband is maintained at less than ±0.5 dB. Excellent main to secondary sidelobe ratio exceeding 45 dB is achieved when the MPF is centered at 18.3 GHz. PMID:27420520

A bilateral circuit is operable for transmitting signals in two directions without generation of ringing due to feedback caused by the insertion of the circuit. The circuit may include gain for each of the signals to provide a bidirectional amplifier. The signals are passed through two separate paths, with a unidirectional amplifier in each path. A controlled sampling device is provided in each path for sampling the two signals. Any feedback loop between the two signals is disrupted by providing a phase displacement between the control signals for the two sampling devices.

A bilateral circuit is operable for transmitting signals in two directions without generation of ringing due to feedback caused by the insertion of the circuit. The circuit may include gain for each of the signals to provide a bidirectional amplifier. The signals are passed through two separate paths, with a unidirectional amplifier in each path. A controlled sampling device is provided in each path for sampling the two signals. Any feedback loop between the two signals is disrupted by providing a phase displacement between the control signals for the two sampling devices.

We report on the experimental investigation of gain enhanced L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) by either recycling residual ASE or using a second C-band wavelength pump laser and on the experimental demonstration of L-band tunable erbium-doped fiber ring lasers. We observed that by reflecting ASE from pumped erbium-doped fiber (EDF) the L-band EDFA gain can be enhanced of 2-15 dB depending on amplifier designs. We also studied wavelength and power dependence of second pump laser on the gain enhanced L-band EDFA and found that an optimum wavelength for second pump laser was between 1550 and 1560 nm. Finally, a L-band tunable erbium-doped fiber laser was also constructed in which lazing oscillation was observed closed to 1624 nm by recycling residual ASE. This L-band tunable laser has a line-width of about 300 MHz, an output power of 1 mW, and a signal to source spontaneous emission ratio of 60 dB.

We consider information transmission through a noiseless quantum channel, where the information is encoded into massive indistinguishable particles: bosons or fermions. We study the situation in which the particles are noninteracting. The encoding input states obey a set of physically motivated constraints on the mean values of the energy and particle number. In such a case, the determination of both classical and quantum capacity reduces to a constrained maximization of entropy. In the case of noninteracting bosons, signatures of Bose-Einstein condensation can be observed in the behavior of the capacity. A major motivation for these considerations is to compare the information-carrying capacities of channels that carry bosons with those that carry fermions. We show analytically that fermions generally provide higher channel capacity, i.e., they are better suited for transferring bits as well as qubits, in comparison to bosons. This holds for a large range of power-law potentials, and for moderate to high temperatures. Numerical simulations seem to indicate that the result holds for all temperatures. Also, we consider the low-temperature behavior for the three-dimensional box and harmonic trap, and again we show that the fermionic capacity is higher than the bosonic one for sufficiently low temperatures.

This brief examines the policy implications of two drivers of change presented in the "2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning"-- Pattern Recognition and Amplified Organization. These drivers point toward a series of cultural shifts and illuminate how we are developing new ways of organizing, constructing, and managing knowledge.…

An all-optical differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) regenerator with a DPSK demodulator and a conventional on-off keying (OOK) regenerator requires a DPSK encoding process that is realized by T-type flip-flop (T-FF) operation. To solve this problem, we propose an all-optical T-FF circuit consisting of counter-faced semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-based exclusive OR (XOR) gates for the first time. Numerical investigation with rate equation reveals the possibility of its stable operation in 10 Gbps with 27-1 pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) signal. It also reveals that it is necessary to decrease the equivalent turn-off time for high bit-rate operation using push-pull configuration.

Highlights: • Erbium doped different fluoro-phosphate glasses are prepared and characterized. • Spectroscopic properties have been determined using Judd–Ofelt and Mc-Cumber theory. • Prominent laser transition Er{sup 3+}:{sup 4}I{sub 13/2} → {sup 4}I{sub 15/2} is observed at 1.53 μm. - Abstract: Different fluoro-phosphate glasses doped with 0.5 mol% Er{sup 3+} doped are prepared by melt quenching method. Both structural and spectroscopic properties have been characterized in order to evaluate their potential as both laser source and amplifier materials. Optical absorption measurements are carried out and analyzed through Judd–Ofelt and Mc-Cumber theories where spectroscopic parameters such as intensity parameters Ω{sub l} (λ = 2,4,6), transition probabilities, radiative lifetimes, stimulated absorption cross-sections and emission cross-sections at 1.5 μm have been evaluated for Er{sup 3+} doped different fluorophosphate glasses. The various luminescence and gain properties are explained from photoluminescence studies. The decay curve analysis have been done for obtaining the decay time constants of Er{sup 3+} excited level {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} in all the fluoro-phosphate glasses. The obtained results of each glass matrix are compared with the equivalent parameters for several other host glasses. These fluoro-phosphate glasses are found to be suitable candidates for laser and amplifier applications.

We report the silicon photonic receivers based on the hybrid-integrated vertical-illumination-type germanium-on-silicon photodetector and CMOS amplifier circuit, for optical interconnects. The high-speed vertical-illumination-type Ge-on-Si photodetector is defined on a bulk-silicon wafer, and the CMOS amplifier chip was designed with 65nm ground rule. The PCB-packaged 4 channel 25 Gb/s photoreceiver exhibits a resposivity of 0.68A/W. The sensitivity measured at a BER of 10-12 is -8.3 dBm and -2.4dBm for 25Gb/s and 32Gb/s, respectively. The energy efficiency is 2.19 pJ/bit at 25 Gb/s. The single-channel butterfly-packaged photoreceiver exhibits the sensitivity of -11dBm for 25 Gb/s at a BER of 10-12. The energy efficiency is 2.67 pJ/bit at 25 Gb/s.

We report on the design and characterization of a short-pulse-pumped, single-stage noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) that achieves high pulse energies in the few-cycle pulse regime. Optimal pulse-front tilting and temporal compression of the short (35 fs) pump pulse are achieved using a 4f grating compressor, while spatial chirp at the NOPA crystal is eliminated with proper imaging using a pair of reflective telescopes. Gas-phase filamentation in an open-ended argon-filled cell provides a bright, stable seed source with little residual chirp that is suitable for temporal overlap with the short pump pulse without dispersion precompensation. Two seeding geometries are explored, and pulses as short as 3.5 fs are obtained by seeding with the entire filament bandwidth. Fourier-transform-limited 4 fs pulses are obtained by filtering the IR portion of the spectrum. PMID:26274667

A 3.125-Gb/s transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for an optical communication system is realized in 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The proposed TIA employs a regulated cascode configuration as the input stage, and adopts DC-cancellation techniques to stabilize the DC operating point. In addition, noise optimization is processed. The on-wafer measurement results show the transimpedance gain of 54.2 dBΩ and -3 dB bandwidth of 2.31 GHz. The measured average input referred noise current spectral density is about . The measured eye diagram is clear and symmetrical for 2.5-Gb/s and 3.125-Gb/s PRBS. Under a single 3.3-V supply voltage, the TIA consumes only 58.08 mW, including 20 mW from the output buffer. The whole die area is 465 × 435 μm2.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate simultaneous multichannel wavelength multicasting (MWM) and exclusive-OR logic gate multicasting (XOR-LGM) for three 10Gbps non-return-to-zero differential phase-shift-keying (NRZ-DPSK) signals in quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifier (QD-SOA) by exploiting the four-wave mixing (FWM) process. No additional pump is needed in the scheme. Through the interaction of the input three 10Gbps DPSK signal lights in QD-SOA, each channel is successfully multicasted to three wavelengths (1-to-3 for each), totally 3-to-9 MWM, and at the same time, three-output XOR-LGM is obtained at three different wavelengths. All the new generated channels are with a power penalty less than 1.2dB at a BER of 10(-9). Degenerate and non-degenerate FWM components are fully used in the experiment for data and logic multicasting. PMID:25606876

There have been theoretical studies for generation of optical coherent superposition states. Once the superposition state is generated it is natural to ask if it is possible to amplify it without losing the nonclassical properties of the field state. We consider amplification of the superposition state in various amplifiers such as a sub-Poissonian amplifier, a phase-sensitive amplifier and a classical amplifier. We show the evolution of phase probability distribution functions in the amplifier.

We report on the generation of 9.0 fs, 550 μJ, carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stabilized optical pulses around 1.6 μm at 1 kHz. Few-cycle IR pulses are obtained from a BiB(3)O(6) optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier. The amplification of nearly octave-spanning ultrabroad pulses without spectral broadening results in good stability in output energy (0.85% rms) and CEP (160 mrad rms). We observed high harmonics in the water window from a neon cell that corresponds to a laser intensity of 4.1×10(14) W/cm(2). PMID:23073404

We report the generation of tunable femtosecond pulses from 380nm to 465nm near the degenerate point of a 405-nm pumped type-I BBO noncollinearly phase-matched optical parametric amplifier (NOPA). The tunable UV/blue radiation is obtained from sum frequency generation (SFG) between the OPA output and the residual fundamental beam at 810-nm and cascaded second harmonic generation (SHG) of OPA. With a fixed seeding angle, the generated SFG and SHG covers from 385 nm to 465-nm. With a pumping energy of 75 J at 405 nm, the optical conversion efficiency from the pump to the tunable SFG is more than 5% and the efficiency of SHG of the OPA is about 2%. PMID:19466049

Currently, one of the main challenges in the field of silicon photonics is the fabrication of efficient laser sources compatible with the microelectronic fabrication technology. An alternative to the complexity of integration of group III-V laser compounds is advancing from high tensile strains applied to germanium leading to improved emission properties by transforming the material from an indirect to a direct bandgap semiconductor. Theory predicts this transformation occurs at around 4.7% uniaxial tensile strain or 2.0% bi-axial tensile strain. Here, we report on ultrahigh strains obtained by amplifying the residual strain from novel optical Germanium-On-Insulator (GeOI) substrates fabricated by Smart CutTM technology and patterned with micro-bridges and micro-crosses. The high crystalline quality of the GeOI layers dramatically declined the mechanical failure limits when liberating the Ge microbridges. Record level Raman shift of 8.1 cm-1 for biaxial (micro-crosses) and 8.7 cm-1 for uniaxial stress (micro-bridges) were reached by carefully designing the geometry of the micro-structures. The photoluminescence (PL) evolution is compared to theoretical calculations based on the tight-binding model revealing a detailed understanding of the influence of strain on the germanium optical properties.

We report on an optical parametric amplifier at high repetition rate of 41.7 MHz seeded by an optical soliton from a tapered fiber. Gap-free signal tuning from 1.35 μm to 1.95 μm with corresponding idler wavelengths from 2.2 μm to 4.5 μm is demonstrated. The system provides up to 1.8 W average power at 1.4 μm, more than 1.1 W up to 1.7 μm, and more than 400 mW up to 4.0 μm with a signal pulse duration of 200 to 300 fs. It is directly pumped by a solid-state oscillator providing up to 7.4 W at 1.04 μm wavelength with 425 fs pulse duration. Soliton-seeding is shown to lead to excellent pulse-to-pulse stability, but it introduces a timing-jitter on the millisecond timescale. Using a two-stage concept the timing-jitter is efficiently suppressed due to the passive synchronization of both conversion stages. PMID:24787844

Long-haul optical communications links based on space-division multiplexing use space as the final degree of multiplexing freedom, possibly exploring the modal orthogonality in a few-mode fiber (FMF). However, if conventional EDFAs are used, each mode will experience a different value of optical gain, on account of distinct field profile configurations. This lack of gain equalization imposes difficulties for mode demultiplexing and may impair the system performance. The FMF-EDFA designer should define Er doping and/or refractive index profiles, as well as the pumping configuration, to provide the best possible mode equalization of optical gain and noise figure. In the case of the FMFEDFA, the problem is involved because each mode contributes with its own set of coupled differential equations. To use this approach to carry out a rigorous optimization procedure is not feasible and typical FMF-EDFAs designs proposed in the literature are empirical. A novel optimization method is proposed here. The definition of a figure of merit related to the equalization of the pump-mode signal overlap integral significantly reduces computation time, allowing the implementation of a multiobjective optimization approach. The results obtained were validated against the solution provided by the full set of rate and propagation equations and we conducted a FMF-EDFA optimization case study. Our double-ring Er doping profile design requires a single 350 mW LP11,p pump to provide a mean gain of 21.6 dB, within 0.6 dB of equalization for each of the four modes considered.

We present the first implementation of a Blu-ray optical pickup unit (OPU) for the high-performance low-cost readout of a homogeneous assay in a multichamber microfluidic disc with a chamber thickness of 600 μm. The assay relies on optical measurements of the dynamics of magnetic nanobeads in an oscillating magnetic field applied along the light propagation direction. The laser light provided by the OPU is transmitted through the sample chamber and reflected back onto the photo detector array of the OPU via a mirror. Spectra of the 2nd harmonic photo detector signal vs. the frequency of the applied magnetic field show a characteristic peak due to freely rotating magnetic nanobeads. Beads bound to ~1 μm coils of DNA formed off-chip by padlock probe recognition and rolling circle amplification show a different dynamics and the intensity of the characteristic peak decreases. We have determined the optimum magnetic bead concentration to 0.1mg/mL and have measured the response vs. concentration of DNA coils formed from Escherichia Coli. We have found a limit of detection of 10 pM and a dynamic range of about two orders of magnitude, which is comparable to the performance obtained using costly and bulky laboratory equipment. The presented device leverages on the advanced but low-cost technology of Blu-ray OPUs to provide a low-cost and high-performance magnetic bead-based readout of homogeneous bioassays. The device is highly flexible and we have demonstrated its use on microfluidic chambers in a disc with a thickness compatible with current optical media mass-production facilities. PMID:25453736

The temporal output of a Ti:Sapphire laser system has been optimized using an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter and a genetic algorithm. In-situ recording the evolution of spectral phase, amplitude and temporal pulse profile for each iteration of the algorithm using SPIDER shows that we are able to lock the spectral phase of the laser pulse within a narrow margin. By using the second harmonic of the CPA laser as feedback for the genetic algorithm, it has been demonstrated that severe mismatch between the compressor and stretcher can be compensated for in a short period of time.

We experimentally study the generation and amplification of stable picosecond-short optical pulses by a master oscillator power-amplifier configuration consisting of a monolithic quantum-dot-based gain-guided tapered laser and amplifier emitting at 1.26 µm without pulse compression, external cavity, gain- or Q-switched operation. We report a peak power of 42 W and a figure-of-merit for second-order nonlinear imaging of 38.5 W2 at a repetition rate of 16 GHz and an associated pulse width of 1.37 ps. PMID:25680056

Molecular Beacon hairpin shaped fluorescent oligonucleotide probes are powerful tools for quantifying specific nucleic acid sequences. Stratagene is developing a sensitive system, using these probes, for detecting and quantifying initial template copy number of nucleic acid sequences in real time during PCR amplification. The system allows parallel multiple fluorophore detection for many applications including allele discrimination and quantitative gene expression analysis. This instrument, combined with Stratagene's Sentinel Molecular Beacon kits, provides an effective system for molecular biology research. We report here the design and utility of an instrument that combines the capabilities of a microplate fluorescence reader with a PCR thermocycler into a low cost real time detection system. The instrument integrates a multiple fluorophore parallel fiber optic excitation and emission detection system, a precision X-Y translation stage, and a high performance thermoelectric temperature cycler with a computer controlled data collection and analysis system. The system uses standard PCR tubes, tube strips, and 96 well plates as the sample format. The result is a low cost, reliable, and easy to use system with premium performance for nucleic acid quantification in real time. 10

The performance of a single semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA)-based ultrafast nonlinear interferometer that is simultaneously driven by two ultrafast data streams with respect to the timing deviation between these signals and the standard clock input is theoretically studied and investigated. For this purpose, a numerical model is applied to simulate the operation of the specific module in pattern-operated dual rail-switching mode and under the presence of such imperfect synchronization. The thorough analysis and interpretation of the obtained results allows one to evaluate the impact of this temporal offset on the achievement of both bitwise logical correctness and high quality at the output. In this manner, the conditions that it must necessarily fulfill are derived and the dependence of its permissible margin and accordingly the way the latter can be extended is revealed, while its optimal amount for maximizing the defined metric is quantified by the difference between the orthogonal polarization clock components' relative walk-off and the control pulse width. These findings can help compensate for the existence of this effect as well as strengthen the tolerance against it so that it can be properly handled in the context of the considered type of SOA-based interferometric switch.

We have demonstrated efficient generation of high beam quality, high-energy and broadband tunable femtosecond mid-infrared pulses using a three-stage collinear optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The white-light continuum (WLC) seeded OPA setup, based on KTA crystal in three stages and pumped by a femtosecond laser pulse at 800 nm, is capable of producing idler wavelength ranging from 2.4 μm to 4.0 μm with energy up to 82 μJ at 3.27 μm, which corresponds to signal energy of 350 μJ at 1060 nm. The output pulse has excellent intensity distribution with measured beam quality factor M2~1.1 for signal and M2~1.7 for idler. To our knowledge, this is the best beam quality reported in 3-5 μm femtosecond OPA until now. The achieved mid-infrared pulse also has a good energy stability with a fluctuation of 1.01% rms over half an hour.

We describe a new optical parametric amplifier (OPA) that employs lithium thioindate, LiInS{sub 2} (LIS), to create tunable infrared light between 1500 cm{sup -1} and 2000 cm{sup -1}. The OPA based on LIS described within provides intense infrared light with a good beam profile relative to similar OPAs built on silver gallium sulfide, AgGaS{sub 2} (AGS), or silver gallium selenide, AgGaSe{sub 2} (AGSe). We have used the new LIS OPA to perform surface-specific sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy of the amide I vibrational mode of a model peptide at the hydrophobic deuterated polystyrene (d{sub 8}-PS)-phosphate buffered saline interface. This model polypeptide (which is known to be an ?-helix in the bulk solution under the high ionic strength conditions employed here) contains hydrophobic leucyl (L) residues and hydrophilic lysyl (K) residues, with sequence Ac-LKKLLKLLKKLLKL-NH{sub 2}. The amide I mode at the d{sub 8}-PS-buffer interface was found to be centered around 1655 cm{sup -1}. This can be interpreted as the peptide having maintained its {alpha}-helical structure when adsorbed on the hydrophobic surface, although other interpretations are discussed.

In this paper, we present the generation of high peak-power picosecond optical pulses in the 1.26 μm spectral band from a repetition-rate-tunable quantum-dot external-cavity passively mode-locked laser (QD-ECMLL), amplified by a tapered quantum-dot semiconductor opticalamplifier (QD-SOA). The laser emission wavelength was controlled through a chirped volume Bragg grating which was used as an external cavity output coupler. An average power of 208.2 mW, pulse energy of 321 pJ, and peak power of 30.3 W were achieved. Preliminary nonlinear imaging investigations indicate that this system is promising as a high peak-power pulsed light source for nonlinear bio-imaging applications across the 1.0 μm - 1.3 μm spectral range. PMID:22714493

A flash lamp pumped dye laser suitable for use as an amplifier stage was developed. The desired output laser pulses are of nanosecond duration, tunable in center frequency, and of good optical quality. Its usefulness as a laser oscillator is emphasized, because it constitutes a compact, relatively efficient source of tunable dye laser light.

We demonstrate a simple optical configuration that amplifies the usable stroke of a deformable mirror. By arranging for the wavefront to traverse the deformable mirror more than once, we correct it more than once. The experimental implementation of the idea demonstrates a doubling of 2.0 and 2.04 by two different means. PMID:15495423

Amplifier can be used for many applications requiring high input impedance and common mode rejection, low drift, and gain accuracy on order of one percent. Performance of inexpensive amplifier approaches that of some commercial instrumentation amplifiers in many specifications.

A regenerative amplifier design capable of operating at high energy per pulse, for instance, from 20-100 Joules, at moderate repetition rates, for instance from 5-20 Hertz is provided. The laser amplifier comprises a gain medium and source of pump energy coupled with the gain medium; a Pockels cell, which rotates an incident beam in response to application of a control signal; an optical relay system defining a first relay plane near the gain medium and a second relay plane near the rotator; and a plurality of reflectors configured to define an optical path through the gain medium, optical relay and Pockels cell, such that each transit of the optical path includes at least one pass through the gain medium and only one pass through the Pockels cell. An input coupler, and an output coupler are provided, implemented by a single polarizer. A control circuit coupled to the Pockels cell generates the control signal in timed relationship with the input pulse so that the input pulse is captured by the input coupler and proceeds through at least one transit of the optical path, and then the control signal is applied to cause rotation of the pulse to a polarization reflected by the polarizer, after which the captured pulse passes through the gain medium at least once more and is reflected out of the optical path by the polarizer before passing through the rotator again to provide an amplified pulse. 7 figures.

A regenerative amplifier design capable of operating at high energy per pulse, for instance, from 20-100 Joules, at moderate repetition rates, for instance from 5-20 Hertz is provided. The laser amplifier comprises a gain medium and source of pump energy coupled with the gain medium; a Pockels cell, which rotates an incident beam in response to application of a control signal; an optical relay system defining a first relay plane near the gain medium and a second relay plane near the rotator; and a plurality of reflectors configured to define an optical path through the gain medium, optical relay and Pockels cell, such that each transit of the optical path includes at least one pass through the gain medium and only one pass through the Pockels cell. An input coupler, and an output coupler are provided, implemented by a single polarizer. A control circuit coupled to the Pockels cell generates the control signal in timed relationship with the input pulse so that the input pulse is captured by the input coupler and proceeds through at least one transit of the optical path, and then the control signal is applied to cause rotation of the pulse to a polarization reflected by the polarizer, after which the captured pulse passes through the gain medium at least once more and is reflected out of the optical path by the polarizer before passing through the rotator again to provide an amplified pulse.

We have experimentally demonstrated a periodically poled magnesium-oxide-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN)-based, fiber-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) generating idler wavelength of 3.82 μm. The pump fiber laser was constructed with a linearly polarized, semi-fiber-coupled acousto-optic Q-switched fiber oscillator and a polarization-maintaining fiber amplifier with pulse duration of 190 ns at the highest output power. The OPO was specifically configured in single-pass, singly resonant linear cavity structure to avoid the damage risk of the pump fiber laser, which is always a serious issue in the fiber-laser-pumped, double-pass, singly oscillating structured OPOs. Under the highest pump power of 25 W, an idler average output power of 3.27 W with one-hour peak-to-peak instability of 5.2% was obtained. The measured M2 factors were 1.98 and 1.44 for horizontal and vertical axis, respectively. The high power stability and good beam quality demonstrated the suitability of such technology for practical application. PMID:24085093

We report on the complete experimental evaluation of a GaInNAs/GaAs (dilute nitride) semiconductor opticalamplifier that operates at 1.3 μm and exhibits 28 dB gain and a gain recovery time of 100 ps. Successful wavelength conversion operation is demonstrated using pseudorandom bit sequence 27-1 non-return-to-zero bit streams at 5 and 10 Gb/s, yielding error-free performance and showing feasibility for implementation in various signal processing functionalities. The operational credentials of the device are analyzed in various operational regimes, while its nonlinear performance is examined in terms of four-wave mixing. Moreover, characterization results reveal enhanced temperature stability with almost no gain variation around the 1320 nm region for a temperature range from 20°C to 50°C. The operational characteristics of the device, along with the cost and energy benefits of dilute nitride technology, make it very attractive for application in optical access networks and dense photonic integrated circuits. PMID:25967005

An amplifier circuit is described for amplifying sigmals having an alternating current component superimposed upon a direct current component, without loss of any segnnent of the alternating current component. The general circuit arrangement includes a vibrator, two square wave amplifiers, and recombination means. The amplifier input is connected to the vibrating element of the vibrator and is thereby alternately applied to the input of each square wave amplifier. The detailed circuitry of the recombination means constitutes the novelty of the annplifier and consists of a separate, dual triode amplifier coupled to the output of each square wave amplifier with a recombination connection from the plate of one amplifier section to a grid of one section of the other amplifier. The recombination circuit has provisions for correcting distortion caused by overlapping of the two square wave voltages from the square wave amplifiers.

We present two configurations of an amplified fiber-optic-based corrosion sensor using the optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) technique as the interrogation method. The sensor system is multipoint, self-referenced, has no moving parts and can measure the corrosion rate several kilometers away from the OTDR equipment. The first OTDR monitoring system employs a remotely pumped in-line EDFA and it is used to evaluate the increase in system reach compared to a non-amplified configuration. The other amplified monitoring system uses an EDFA in booster configuration and we perform corrosion measurements and evaluations of system sensitivity to amplifier gain variations. Our experimental results obtained under controlled laboratory conditions show the advantages of the amplified system in terms of longer system reach with better spatial resolution, and also that the corrosion measurements obtained from our system are not sensitive to 3 dB gain variations. PMID:22737017

A multistaged Stokes injected Raman capillary waveguide amplifier for providing a high gain Stokes output signal. The amplifier uses a plurality of optically coupled capillary waveguide amplifiers and one or more regenerative amplifiers to increase Stokes gain to a level sufficient for power amplification. Power amplification is provided by a multifocused Raman gain cell or a large diameter capillary waveguide. An external source of CO.sub.2 laser radiation can be injected into each of the capillary waveguide amplifier stages to increase Raman gain. Devices for injecting external sources of CO.sub.2 radiation include: dichroic mirrors, prisms, gratings and Ge Brewster plates. Alternatively, the CO.sub.2 input radiation to the first stage can be coupled and amplified between successive stages.

An amplifier system for high power lasers, the system comprising a compact array of segments which (1) preserves high, large signal gain with improved pumping efficiency and (2) allows the total amplifier length to be shortened by as much as one order of magnitude. The system uses a three dimensional array of segments, with the plane of each segment being oriented at substantially the amplifier medium Brewster angle relative to the incident laser beam and with one or more linear arrays of flashlamps positioned between adjacent rows of amplifier segments, with the plane of the linear array of flashlamps being substantially parallel to the beam propagation direction.

A linear mode photon counting focal plane array using HgCdTe mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cutoff electron initiated avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) has been designed, fabricated, and characterized. The broad spectral range (0.4 to 4.3 μm) is unique among photon counters, making this a "first of its kind" system spanning the visible to the MWIR. The low excess noise [F(M)≈1] of the e-APDs allows for robust photon detection while operating at a stable linear avalanche gain in the range of 500-1000. The readout integrated circuit (ROIC) design included a very high gain-bandwidth product resistive transimpedance amplifier (3×1013 Ω-Hz) and a 4 ns output digital pulse width comparator. The ROIC had 16 high-bandwidth analogs and 16 low-voltage differential signaling digital outputs. The 2×8 array was integrated into an LN2 Dewar with a custom leadless chip carrier and daughter board design that preserved high-bandwidth analog and digital signal integrity. The 2×8 e-APD arrays were fabricated on 4.3 μm cutoff HgCdTe and operated at 84 K. The measured dark currents were approximately 1 pA at 13 V bias where the measured avalanche photodiode gain was 500. This translates to a predicted dark current induced dark count rate of less than 20 KHz. Single photon detection was achieved with a photon pulse signal-to-noise ratio of 13.7 above the amplifier noise floor. A photon detection efficiency of 50% was measured at a photon background limited false event rate of about 1 MHz. The measured jitter was in the range of 550-800 ps. The demonstrated minimum time between distinguishable events was less than 10 ns.

We report a new ytterbium-doped active tapered fibre used in the output amplifier stage of a fibre laser system for the generation of megawatt peak power ultrashort pulses in the microjoule energy range. The tapered fibre is single-mode at its input end (core and cladding diameters of 10 and 80 μm) and multimode at its output end (diameters of 45 and 430 μm), but ultrashort pulses are amplified in a quasi-single-mode regime. Using a hybrid Er/Yb fibre system comprising an erbium master oscillator and amplifier at a wavelength near 1.5 μm, a nonlinear wavelength converter to the 1 μm range and a three-stage ytterbium-doped fibre amplifier, we obtained pulses of 1 μJ energy and 7 ps duration, which were then compressed by a grating-pair dispersion compressor with 60% efficiency to a 130 fs duration, approaching the transform-limited pulse duration. The present experimental data agree well with numerical simulation results for pulse amplification in the threestage amplifier.

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of 1.024-Tb/s Nyquist-WDM phase-conjugated vector twin waves (PCTWs), consisting of eight 128-Gb/s polarization-division-multiplexed QPSK signals and their idlers, by a broadband polarization-insensitive fiber optic parametric amplifier. This novel all-optical signal processing approach to generate WDM-PCTWs enables a 2-fold reduction in the needed optical transmitters as compared to the conventional approach where each idler is generated by a dedicated transmitter. Digital coherent superposition of the twin waves at the receiver enables more than doubled reach in a dispersion-managed transmission link. We further study the impact of polarization-mode dispersion on the performance gain brought by the phase-conjugated twin waves, showing a gain of ~3.8 dB in signal quality factors. PMID:24663996

A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches.

The present invention comprises a novel matrix amplifier. The matrix amplifier includes an active superconducting power divider (ASPD) having N output ports; N distributed amplifiers each operatively connected to one of the N output ports of the ASPD; and a power combiner having N input ports each operatively connected to one of the N distributed amplifiers. The distributed amplifier can included M stages of amplification by cascading superconducting active devices. The power combiner can include N active elements. The resulting (N[times]M) matrix amplifier can produce signals of high output power, large bandwidth, and low noise. 6 figures.

A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches.

The present invention comprises a novel matrix amplifier. The matrix amplifier includes an active superconducting power divider (ASPD) having N output ports; N distributed amplifiers each operatively connected to one of the N output ports of the ASPD; and a power combiner having N input ports each operatively connected to one of the N distributed amplifiers. The distributed amplifier can included M stages of amplification by cascading superconducting active devices. The power combiner can include N active elements. The resulting (N.times.M) matrix amplifier can produce signals of high output power, large bandwidth, and low noise.

A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches.

A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches.

A bio-isolated dc operational amplifier is described for use in making bioelectrical measurements of a patient while providing isolation of the patient from electrical shocks. The circuit contains a first operational amplifier coupled to the patient with its output coupled in a forward loop through a first optic coupler to a second operational amplifier. The output of the second operational amplifier is coupled to suitable monitoring circuitry via a feedback circuit including a second optic coupler to the input of the first operational amplifier.

A main amplifier system includes a first reflector operable to receive input light through a first aperture and direct the input light along an optical path. The input light is characterized by a first polarization. The main amplifier system also includes a first polarizer operable to reflect light characterized by the first polarization state. The main amplifier system further includes a first and second set of amplifier modules. Each of the first and second set of amplifier modules includes an entrance window, a quarter wave plate, a plurality of amplifier slablets arrayed substantially parallel to each other, and an exit window. The main amplifier system additionally includes a set of mirrors operable to reflect light exiting the first set of amplifier modules to enter the second set of amplifier modules and a second polarizer operable to reflect light characterized by a second polarization state.

The present invention relates to a musical instrument amplifier which is particularly useful for electric guitars. The amplifier has a rigid body for housing both the electronic system for amplifying and processing signals from the guitar and the system's power supply. An input plug connected to and projecting from the body is electrically coupled to the signal amplifying and processing system. When the plug is inserted into an output jack for an electric guitar, the body is rigidly carried by the guitar, and the guitar is operatively connected to the electrical amplifying and signal processing system without use of a loose interconnection cable. The amplifier is provided with an output jack, into which headphones are plugged to receive amplified signals from the guitar. By eliminating the conventional interconnection cable, the amplifier of the present invention can be used by musicians with increased flexibility and greater freedom of movement.

We present a stable and switchable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser. In the ring cavity, an inverse-Gaussian apodized fiber Bragg grating serves as an ultranarrow dual-wavelength passband filter, a semiconductor opticalamplifier biased in the low-gain regime reduces the gain competition of the two wavelengths, and a feedback fiber loop acts as a mode filter to guarantee a stable single-longitudinal-mode operation. Two lasing lines with a wavelength separation of approximately 0.1 nm are obtained experimentally. A microwave signal at 12.51 GHz is demonstrated by beating the dual wavelengths at a photodetector. PMID:21173817

Nonlinear patterning (NLP) effect in wavelength conversion based on transient cross-phase modulation (XPM) in semiconductor opticalamplifier (SOA) assisted with a detuning filter is theoretically investigated. A non-adiabatic model is used to estimate the ultrafast dynamics of gain, phase and electron temperature in the SOA. Simulation results show that the NLP can be greatly suppressed by introducing an assist light, especially for the probe wavelength distant from gain peak. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the improvement is more evident for long wavelength probe light and assist light in counter-propagating configuration.

A method is described of producing an ultra-high peak power pulse, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a short optical pulse having a predetermined duration from an optical oscillator; stretching in time the short optical pulse by a factor of approximately between 100 and 10,000 to produce a timestretched optical pulse to be amplified; amplifying the time-stretched optical pulse in a solid state amplifying media, said step of amplifying additionally including the step of combining the time-stretched optical pulse with an optical energy generated by a laser used to pump the solid-state amplifying media; and compressing in time the amplified time-stretched optical pulse, whereby the amplitude of the resulting amplified time-stretched compressed optical pulse is increased.

Amplified dispersive Fourier transformation (ADFT) is a powerful tool for fast real-time spectroscopy as it overcomes the limitations of traditional optical spectrometers. ADFT maps the spectrum of an optical pulse into a temporal waveform using group-velocity dispersion and simultaneously amplifies it in the optical domain. It greatly simplifies spectroscopy by replacing the diffraction grating and detector array in the conventional spectrometer with a dispersive fiber and single-pixel photodetector, enabling ultrafast real-time spectroscopic measurements. Following our earlier work on the theory of ADFT, here we study the effect of noise on ADFT. We derive the noise figure of ADFT and discuss its dependence on various parameters.

In future laser systems, such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF), multi-segment amplifiers (MSAs) will be used to amplify the laser beam to the required levels. As a prototype of such a laser architecture, the authors have designed, built, and tested flash-lamp-pumped, Nd:Glass, Brewster-angle slab MSAs for the Beamlet project. In this article, they review the fundamentals of Nd:Glass amplifiers, describe the MSA geometry, discuss parameters that are important in amplifier design, and present our results on the characterization of the Beamlet MSAs. In particular, gain and beam steering measurements show that the Beamlet amplifiers meet all optical performance specifications and perform close to model predictions.

Disclosed are an apparatus and method for quickly closing off the return path for an amplified laser pulse at the output of an amplifier so as to prevent damage to amplifiers and other optical components appearing earlier in the chain by the return of an amplified pulse. The apparatus consists of a fast retropulse or post pulse shutter to suppress target reflection and/or beam return. This is accomplished by either quickly placing a solid across the light transmitting aperture of a component in the chain, such as a spatial filter pinhole, or generating and directing a plasma with sufficiently high density across the aperture, so as to, in effect, close the aperture to the returning amplified energy pulse. 13 figs.

Apparatus and method for quickly closing off the return path for an amplified laser pulse at the output of an amplifier so as to prevent damage to amplifiers and other optical components appearing earlier in the chain by the return of an amplified pulse. The apparatus consists of a fast retropulse or post pulse shutter to suppress target reflection and/or beam return. This is accomplished by either quickly placing a solid across the light transmitting aperture of a component in the chain, such as a spatial filter pinhole, or generating and directing a plasma with sufficiently high density across the aperture, so as to, in effect, close the aperture to the returning amplified energy pulse.

A high-voltage distributed amplifier implemented in GaAs MMIC technology has demonstrated good circuit performance over at least two octave bandwidth. This technique allows for very broadband amplifier operation with good efficiency in satellite, active-aperture radar, and battery-powered systems. Also, by increasing the number of FETs, the amplifier can be designed to match different voltage rails. The circuit does require a small amount of additional chip size over conventional distributed amplifiers but does not require power dividers or additional matching networks. This circuit configuration should find great use in broadband power amplifier design.

A laser amplifier chain has a plurality of laser amplifiers arranged in a chain to sequentially amplify a low-power signal beam to produce a significantly higher-power output beam. Overall efficiency of such a chain is improved if high-gain, low efficiency amplifiers are placed on the upstream side of the chain where only a very small fraction of the total pumped power is received by the chain and low-gain, high-efficiency amplifiers are placed on the downstream side where a majority of pumping energy is received by the chain. 6 figs.

A laser amplifier chain has a plurality of laser amplifiers arranged in a chain to sequentially amplify a low-power signal beam to produce a significantly higher-power output beam. Overall efficiency of such a chain is improved if high-gain, low efficiency amplifiers are placed on the upstream side of the chain where only a very small fraction of the total pumped power is received by the chain and low-gain, high-efficiency amplifiers are placed on the downstream side where a majority of pumping energy is received by the chain.

A bandpass amplifier employing a field effect transistor amplifier first stage is described with a resistive load either a.c. or directly coupled to the non-inverting input of an operational amplifier second stage which is loaded in a Wien Bridge configuration. The bandpass amplifier may be operated with a signal injected into the gate terminal of the field effect transistor and the signal output taken from the output terminal of the operational amplifier. The operational amplifier stage appears as an inductive reactance, capacitive reactance and negative resistance at the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier, all of which appear in parallel with the resistive load of the field effect transistor.

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, on picosecondpulse optical phase conjugation using photorefractive Sn(2)P(2)S(6) crystals. For 7.2-ps pulses at 1.06 mum, we have achieved phase-conjugate reflectivities of up to 45% with very fast build-up times, about 15 ms at an intensity of 23 W/cm(2) using Te-doped Sn(2)P(2)S(6). We furthermore demonstrate aberration-free 5 W optical output of 8-ps pulses at 1.06 mum from a side pumped Nd:YVO(4) amplifier using the Sn(2)P(2)S(6)-based phase-conjugate feedback. PMID:20173826

We report on a compact, tunable ultraviolet laser system that consists of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and a longitudinally diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA). The pump energy for the whole laser system is supplied via a single delivery fiber. Nanosecond pulses are produced by an oscillator that is passively Q-switched by a Cr(4+):YAG crystal. The OPO is pumped by the second harmonic of the Nd:YAG MOPA. Continuously tunable radiation is generated by an intracavity sum-frequency mixing process within the OPO in the range of 245-260 nm with high beam quality. Maximum pulse energies of 1.2 mJ were achieved, which correspond to an optical efficiency of 3.75%, relating to the pulse energy of the MOPA at 1064 nm. PMID:19571944

Cleanliness measurements made on AMPLAB prototype National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser amplifiers during assembly, cassette transfer, and amplifier operation are summarized. These measurements include particle counts from surface cleanliness assessments using filter swipe techniques and from airborne particle monitoring. Results are compared with similar measurements made on the Beamlet and Nova lasers and in flashlamp test fixtures. Observations of Class 100,000 aerosols after flashlamp firings are discussed. Comparisons are made between typical damage densities on laser amplifieroptics from Novette, NOVA, Beamlet, and AMPLAB.

The invention relates to apparatus and methods for producing high intensity laser radiation generation which is achieved through an opticalamplifier-storage ring design. One or two synchronized, counterpropagating laser pulses are injected into a regenerative amplifier cavity and amplified by gain media which are pumped repetitively by electrical or optical means. The gain media excitation pulses are tailored to efficiently amplify the laser pulses during each transit. After the laser pulses have been amplified to the desired intensity level, they are either switched out of the cavity by some switch means, as for example an electro-optical device, for any well known laser end uses, or a target means may be injected into the regenerative amplifier cavity in such a way as to intercept simultaneously the counterpropagating laser pulses. One such well known end uses to which this invention is intended is for production of high density and temperature plasmas suitable for generating neutrons, ions and x-rays and for studying matter heated by high intensity laser radiation.

The invention relates to apparatus and methods for producing high intensity laser radiation generation which is achieved through an opticalamplifier-storage ring design. One or two synchronized, counterpropagating laser pulses are injected into a regenerative amplifier cavity and amplified by gain media which are pumped repetitively by electrical or optical means. The gain media excitation pulses are tailored to efficiently amplify the laser pulses during each transit. After the laser pulses have been amplified to the desired intensity level, they are either switched out of the cavity by some switch means, as for example an electro-optical device, for any well known laser end uses, or a target means may be injected into the regenerative amplifier cavity in such a way as to intercept simultaneously the counterpropagating laser pulses. One such well known end uses to which this invention is intended is for production of high density and temperature plasmas suitable for generating neutrons, ions and x-rays and for studying matter heated by high intensity laser radiation. 11 figs.

Angle amplifier of laser beam scanner is a widely used device in optical systems. Volume holographic optical elements can be applied in the angle amplifier. Compared with the traditional angle amplifier, it has the advantages of high angle resolution, high diffraction efficiency, small size, and high angle magnification and flexible design. Bragg anglewavelength- compensating recording method is introduced. Because of the Bragg compensatory relation between angle and wavelength, this device could be recorded at another wavelength. The design of the angle amplifier recording at the wavelength of 514.2nm for the working wavelength of 632.8nm is described. An optical setup for recording the angle amplifier device is designed and discussed. Experimental results in the photorefractive crystal Fe:LiNbO 3 demonstrate the feasibility of the angle amplifier scheme.

Josephson junction parametric amplifiers are playing a crucial role in the readout chain in superconducting quantum information experiments. However, their integration with current 3D cavity implementations poses the problem of transitioning between waveguide, coax cables, and planar circuits. Moreover, Josephson amplifiers require auxiliary microwave components, like directional couplers and/or hybrids, that are sources of spurious losses and impedance mismatches that limit measurement efficiency and amplifier tunability. We have developed a wireless architecture for these parametric amplifiers that eliminates superfluous microwave components and interconnects. This greatly simplifies their assembly and integration into experiments. We present an experimental realization of such a device operating in the 9–11 GHz band with about 100 MHz of amplitude gain-bandwidth product, on par with devices mounted in conventional sample holders. The simpler impedance environment presented to the amplifier also results in increased amplifier tunability.

A hybrid optoplasmonic amplifier, injection-seeded by an internally-generated Raman signal and operating in the visible (563–675 nm), is proposed and evidence for amplification is presented. Comprising a gain medium tethered to a whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator with a protein, and a plasmonic surface, the optical system described here selectively amplifies a single (or a few) Raman line(s) produced within the WGM resonator and is well-suited for routing narrowband optical power on-a-chip. Over the past five decades, optical oscillators and amplifiers have typically been based on the buildup of the field from the spontaneous emission background. Doing so limits the temporal coherence of the output, lengthens the time required for the optical field intensity to reach saturation, and often is responsible for complex, multiline spectra. In addition to the spectral control afforded by injection-locking, the effective Q of the amplifier can be specified by the bandwidth of the injected Raman signal. This characteristic contrasts with previous WGM-based lasers and amplifiers for which the Q is determined solely by the WGM resonator. PMID:25156810

A multiple-pass laser amplifier that uses optical focusing between subsequent passes through a single gain medium so that a reproducibly stable beam size is achieved within the gain region. A confocal resonator or White Cell resonator is provided, including two or three curvilinearly shaped mirrors facing each other along a resonator axis and an optical gain medium positioned on the resonator axis between the mirrors (confocal resonator) or adjacent to one of the mirrors (White Cell). In a first embodiment, two mirrors, which may include adjacent lenses, are configured so that a light beam passing through the gain medium and incident on the first mirror is reflected by that mirror toward the second mirror in a direction approximately parallel to the resonator axis. A light beam translator, such as an optical flat of transparent material, is positioned to translate this light beam by a controllable amount toward or away from the resonator axis for each pass of the light beam through the translator. The optical gain medium may be solid-state, liquid or gaseous medium and may be pumped longitudinally or transversely. In a second embodiment, first and second mirrors face a third mirror in a White Cell configuration, and the optical gain medium is positioned at or adjacent to one of the mirrors. Defocusing means and optical gain medium cooling means are optionally provided with either embodiment, to controllably defocus the light beam, to cool the optical gain medium and to suppress thermal lensing in the gain medium.

A compact laser amplifier system is described in which a plurality of face-pumped annular disks, aligned along a common axis, independently radially amplify a stimulating light pulse. Partially reflective or lasing means, coaxially positioned at the center of each annualar disk, radially deflects a stimulating light directed down the common axis uniformly into each disk for amplification, such that the light is amplified by the disks in a parallel manner. Circumferential reflecting means coaxially disposed around each disk directs amplified light emission, either toward a common point or in a common direction. (Official Gazette)

One possible laser source for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) consists of an Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier originally developed for inter-satellite communication, seeded by the laser used for the technology demonstrator mission LISA Pathfinder. LISA needs to transmit clock information between its three spacecraft to correct for phase noise between the clocks on the individual spacecraft. For this purpose phase modulation sidebands at GHz frequencies will be imprinted on the laser beams between spacecraft. Differential phase noise between the carrier and a sideband introduced within the optical chain must be very low. We report on a transportable setup to measure the phase fidelity of opticalamplifiers.

The Regenerative Amplifier Free-Electron Laser (RAFEL) is a high-gain RF-linac FEL capable of producing high optical power from a compact design. The combination of a high-gain and small optical feedback enables the FEL to reach saturation and produce a high optical power and high extraction efficiency without risk of optical damage to the mirrors. This paper summarizes the first lasing of the Regenerative Amplifier FEL and describes recent experimental results. The highest optical energy achieved thus far at 16.3 {micro}m is 1.7 J over an 9-{micro}s macropulse, corresponding to an average power during the macropulse of 190 kW. They deduce an energy of 1.7 mJ in each 16 ps micropulse, corresponding to a peak power of 110 MW.

We use a commercially available 1.2 GHz bandwidth reflective semiconductor opticalamplifier (RSOA)--based optical network unit (ONU) to achieve 10-gbits/s upstream traffic for an optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) long-reach passive optical network (LR-PON). This is the first time the 64--quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) OFDM format has been applied to RSOA-ONU to achieve a 75 km fiber transmission length. In the proposed LR-PON, the upstream power penalty of 5.2 dB at the bit error rate of 3.8×10-3 is measured by using a 64-QAM OFDM modulation after the 75 km fiber transmission without dispersion compensation.

An improved dye laser amplifier is disclosed. The efficiency of the dye lr amplifier is increased significantly by increasing the power of a dye beam as it passes from an input window to an output window within the dye chamber, while maintaining the intensity of the dye beam constant.

An improved dye laser amplifier is disclosed. The efficiency of the dye laser amplifier is increased significantly by increasing the power of a dye beam as it passes from an input window to an output window within the dye chamber, while maintaining the intensity of the dye beam constant. 3 figs.

A transistor amplifier is designed for vyery small currents below 10/sup -8/ amperes. The filrst and second amplifier stages use unusual selected transistors in which the current amplification increases markedly for values of base current below 10/sup -6/ amperes.

Stable input stage was designed for the use with a integrated circuit operational amplifier to provide improved performance as an instrumentation-type amplifier. The circuit provides high input impedance, stable gain, good common mode rejection, very low drift, and low output impedance.

A laser-diode pumped Q-switched single-frequency Nd:YAG MOPA operating at 100 Hz was used to generate tunable mid-infrared radiation between 6.27 µm and 8.12 µm by employing a cascaded parametric arrangement consisting of degenerate parametric master-oscillator power amplifier using a large aperture periodically-poled Rb:KTiOPO4 which in turn pumped a ZnGeP2 (ZGP) nonplanar RISTRA OPO. The noncollinear ZGP RISTRA tuning behavior is elucidated. The device is aimed for minimally invasive surgery applications at 6.45 µm where the peak power of 193 kW in 5 ns pulses is demonstrated. PMID:22418210

An improved distributed amplifier system employing feedback for stabilization is presented. In accordance with the disclosed invention, a signal to be amplified is applled to one end of a suitable terminated grid transmission line. At intervals along the transmission line, the signal is fed to stable, resistance-capacitance coupled amplifiers incorporating feedback loops therein. The output current from each amplifier is passed through an additional tube to minimize the electrostatic capacitance between the tube elements of the last stage of the amplifier, and fed to appropriate points on an output transmission line, similar to the grid line, but terminated at the opposite (input) end. The output taken from the unterminated end of the plate transmission line is proportional to the input voltage impressed upon the grid line.

This paper describes a versatile composite amplifier in which a current feedback amplifier (CFA) drives an operational amplifier (OPA). In the conventional OPA-CFA composite amplifier, an OPA drives a CFA resulting in a composite structure that combines the DC input stability of the OPA and the high speed capability of the CFA. The proposed composite configuration combines different features of the CFA and OPA, specifically the constant bandwidth property of the CFA and the high power and high current output capacity of the OPA. The new circuit is easily implemented in the standard inverting and non-inverting configurations using commercially available devices, and the accuracy and constant bandwidth features were experimentally verified. Local feedback around the associated CFA ensures that the proposed composite amplifier possesses a higher level of bandwidth constancy than a single CFA.

We produce a 3 mJ, two-cycle (11.4 fs), 1 kHz, carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stable laser source at 1.7 μm via a three-stage Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier in BiB3O6. We achieve a pump-to-signal conversion efficiency of 18% in the last stage, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest yet achieved for near-octave bandwidth amplification. A f-to-2f measurement shows a CEP instability of 165 mrad over 1 h. This is an ideal light source for generating isolated attosecond pulses in the soft x-ray region. PMID:26977654

A terahertz (THz) opticalamplifier based on a 2.9 THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) structure has been demonstrated. By depositing an antireflective coating on the QCL facet, the laser mirror losses are enhanced to fully suppress the lasing action, creating a THz quantum cascade (QC) amplifier. Terahertz radiation amplification has been obtained, by coupling a separate multi-mode THz QCL of the same active region design to the QC amplifier. A bare cavity gain is achieved and shows excellent agreement with the lasing spectrum from the original QCL without the antireflective coating. Furthermore, a maximum optical gain of ∼30 dB with single-mode radiation output is demonstrated.

The PEP-II/DA {Phi} NE/ALS longitudinal feedback systems are complex wide bandwidth systems requiring analog, digital and microwave circuits. The solid-state amplifier is one of the components in the microwave circuit that is required to suppress the coupled bunch instabilities that exist in the PEP-II accelerator. The suppression is achieved by using an antenna as a kicker structure that provides an electric field in order to increase or decrease the energy of particles passing through the structure. The amplifier is made up of sixteen 30 to 35W microstrip GaAs FET modules that are combined to obtain 500W over a bandwidth of 850MHz to 1850MHz. The amplifier malfunctioned causing a reduction in the functionality and power output of the individual GaAs FET modules. The amplifier must be repaired. After repair, the amplifier must be tuned to optimize the gain while maintaining proper power output. The amplifier is tuned using microstrip circuit techniques. A variety of microstrip methods are used to obtain the proper line impedance. The result is a working amplifier that operates efficiently.

A state-of-the-art instrumentation amplifier capable of being used with most types of transducers has been developed at the Kennedy Space Center. This Universal Signal Conditioning Amplifier (USCA) can eliminate costly measurement setup item and troubleshooting, improve system reliability and provide more accurate data than conventional amplifiers. The USCA can configure itself for maximum resolution and accuracy based on information read from a RAM chip attached to each transducer. Excitation voltages or current are also automatically configured. The amplifier uses both analog and digital state-of-the-art technology with analog-to-digital conversion performed in the early stages in order to minimize errors introduced by offset and gain drifts in the analog components. A dynamic temperature compensation scheme has been designed to achieve and maintain 12-bit accuracy of the amplifier from 0 to 70 C. The digital signal processing section allows the implementation of digital filters up to 511th order. The amplifier can also perform real-time linearizations up to fourth order while processing data at a rate of 23.438 kS/s. Both digital and analog outputs are available from the amplifier.

A laser amplifier includes an input aperture operable to receive laser radiation having a first polarization, an output aperture coupled to the input aperture by an optical path, and a polarizer disposed along an optical path. A transmission axis of the polarizer is aligned with the first polarization. The laser amplifier also includes n optical switch disposed along the optical path. The optical switch is operable to pass the laser radiation when operated in a first state and to reflect the laser radiation when operated in a second state. The laser amplifier further includes an optical gain element disposed along the optical path and a polarization rotation device disposed along the optical path.

An optical gain architecture includes a pump source and a pump aperture. The architecture also includes a gain region including a gain element operable to amplify light at a laser wavelength. The gain region is characterized by a first side intersecting an optical path, a second side opposing the first side, a third side adjacent the first and second sides, and a fourth side opposing the third side. The architecture further includes a dichroic section disposed between the pump aperture and the first side of the gain region. The dichroic section is characterized by low reflectance at a pump wavelength and high reflectance at the laser wavelength. The architecture additionally includes a first cladding section proximate to the third side of the gain region and a second cladding section proximate to the fourth side of the gain region.

An optical gain architecture includes a pump source and a pump aperture. The architecture also includes a gain region including a gain element operable to amplify light at a laser wavelength. The gain region is characterized by a first side intersecting an optical path, a second side opposing the first side, a third side adjacent the first and second sides, and a fourth side opposing the third side. The architecture further includes a dichroic section disposed between the pump aperture and the first side of the gain region. The dichroic section is characterized by low reflectance at a pump wavelength and high reflectance at the laser wavelength. The architecture additionally includes a first cladding section proximate to the third side of the gain region and a second cladding section proximate to the fourth side of the gain region.

Actively stabilized, simultaneous spatial and temporal coherent beam combination is a promising power-scaling technique for ultrafast laser systems. For a temporal combination based on optical delay lines, multiple stable states of operation arise for common stabilization techniques. A time resolved Jones' calculus is applied to investigate the issue. A mitigation strategy based on a temporally gated error signal acquisition is derived and demonstrated, enabling to stabilize laser systems with arbitrary numbers of amplifier channels and optical delay lines. PMID:27137231

The sensitivity of SONET p-i-n photodiode receivers with transimpedance amplifiers (PIN-TIA) from OC-3 to OC-48 data rates, measured by using a standard bit-error-rate tester (BERT) and a novel sweep-frequency-modulation/intermixing (SMIM) technique, are compared. A threshold intermixed voltage below 15.8 mV obtained by the SMIM method corresponding to the sensitivity of the PIN-TIA receiver beyond -32 dBm determined by BERT for the SONET OC-48 PIN-TIA receivers with a required BER of better than 10-10 is reported. The analysis interprets that the intermixed voltage for improving the PIN-TIA receiver sensitivity from -31 to -33 dBm has to be increased from 12.5 to 20.4 mV. As compared to the BERT, the SMIM is a relatively simplified, fast, and low-cost technique for on-line mass-production diagnostics for measuring the sensitivity and evaluating the BER performances of PIN-TIA receivers.

Current conceptual designs for Linac Coherent Light Sources (LCLSs) in the 100-1 {angstrom} wavelength range are based on Free Electron Lasers (FELs) that are designed to saturate in a single pass of the electron beam through the undulator. This, in practice, leads to insertion devices several tens of meters in length, which greatly dominates the component costs of the overall LCLS system. Although it is well known that amplification within a cavity would enable much shorter and more economical undulators to be employed, two major practical problems are currently adduced to discount the use of such configurations in the sub-100 {angstrom} wavelength regime: (1) the temporal jitter of the (sub-picosecond) electron bunches required for such FELs can be comparable to or larger that the durations of the bunches themselves, rendering reliable synchronization extremely difficult, and (2) the lack of optical elements of sufficient reflectivity and bandwidth out of which adequately efficient optical cavities can be constructed. In this paper we reasssess the requirements associated with these two aspects of x-ray optics as a possible approach to resolving or making more tractable the resolution of some of the basic problems involved.

With approximately 99 percent of the electrical energy supplied to the NIF appearing as heat in the amplifiers, thermal recovery of the NIF system is a major consideration in the design process. The NIF shot rate is one shot every 8 hours, with a goal of 4 hours between shots. This necessitates that thermal recovery take place in no more than 7 hours, with a goal of 3 hours for the accelerated shot rate. Residual optical distortions, which restrict the shot rate, are grouped into two discrete categories: (1) distortions associated with residual temperature gradients in the laser slabs, and (2) distortions associated with buoyantly driven convective currents in the amplifier cavity and beam-tube regions. Thermal recovery of the amplifiers is achieved by cooling the flashlamps and blastshields with a heat deposited in the slabs and edge claddings. Advanced concepts, such as the use of slightly chilled gas to accelerate some aspects of recovery, are addressed. To quantify recovery rates of the amplifiers, experiments and numerical models are used to measure and calculate the temperatures and optical distortions in NIF-like amplifier elements. The calculation results are benchmarked against AMPLAB temperature measurements, thus allowing a quantitative prediction of NIF thermal recovery. These results indicate that the NIF requirement of 7 hour thermal recovery can be achieved with chilled temperature cooling gas. It is further shown that residual temperature gradient driven distortions in the slabs reach an acceptable level, after 4 hours of thermal recovery.

A regenerative laser amplifier system generates high peak power and high energy per pulse output beams enabling generation of X-rays used in X-ray lithography for manufacturing integrated circuits. The laser amplifier includes a ring shaped optical path with a limited number of components including a polarizer, a passive 90 degree phase rotator, a plurality of mirrors, a relay telescope, and a gain medium, the components being placed close to the image plane of the relay telescope to reduce diffraction or phase perturbations in order to limit high peak intensity spiking. In the ring, the beam makes two passes through the gain medium for each transit of the optical path to increase the amplifier gain to loss ratio. A beam input into the ring makes two passes around the ring, is diverted into an SBS phase conjugator and proceeds out of the SBS phase conjugator back through the ring in an equal but opposite direction for two passes, further reducing phase perturbations. A master oscillator inputs the beam through an isolation cell (Faraday or Pockels) which transmits the beam into the ring without polarization rotation. The isolation cell rotates polarization only in beams proceeding out of the ring to direct the beams out of the amplifier. The diffraction limited quality of the input beam is preserved in the amplifier so that a high power output beam having nearly the same diffraction limited quality is produced.

A regenerative laser amplifier system generates high peak power and high energy per pulse output beams enabling generation of X-rays used in X-ray lithography for manufacturing integrated circuits. The laser amplifier includes a ring shaped optical path with a limited number of components including a polarizer, a passive 90 degree phase rotator, a plurality of mirrors, a relay telescope, and a gain medium, the components being placed close to the image plane of the relay telescope to reduce diffraction or phase perturbations in order to limit high peak intensity spiking. In the ring, the beam makes two passes through the gain medium for each transit of the optical path to increase the amplifier gain to loss ratio. A beam input into the ring makes two passes around the ring, is diverted into an SBS phase conjugator and proceeds out of the SBS phase conjugator back through the ring in an equal but opposite direction for two passes, further reducing phase perturbations. A master oscillator inputs the beam through an isolation cell (Faraday or Pockels) which transmits the beam into the ring without polarization rotation. The isolation cell rotates polarization only in beams proceeding out of the ring to direct the beams out of the amplifier. The diffraction limited quality of the input beam is preserved in the amplifier so that a high power output beam having nearly the same diffraction limited quality is produced.

Laser amplifiers and methods for amplifying a laser beam are disclosed. A representative embodiment of the amplifier comprises first and second curved mirrors, a gain medium, a third mirror, and a mask. The gain medium is situated between the first and second curved mirrors at the focal point of each curved mirror. The first curved mirror directs and focuses a laser beam to pass through the gain medium to the second curved mirror which reflects and recollimates the laser beam. The gain medium amplifies and shapes the laser beam as the laser beam passes therethrough. The third mirror reflects the laser beam, reflected from the second curved mirror, so that the laser beam bypasses the gain medium and return to the first curved mirror, thereby completing a cycle of a ring traversed by the laser beam. The mask defines at least one beam-clipping aperture through which the laser beam passes during a cycle. The gain medium is pumped, preferably using a suitable pumping laser. The laser amplifier can be used to increase the energy of continuous-wave or, especially, pulsed laser beams including pulses of femtosecond duration and relatively high pulse rate. 7 figs.

Laser amplifiers and methods for amplifying a laser beam are disclosed. A representative embodiment of the amplifier comprises first and second curved mirrors, a gain medium, a third mirror, and a mask. The gain medium is situated between the first and second curved mirrors at the focal point of each curved mirror. The first curved mirror directs and focuses a laser beam to pass through the gain medium to the second curved mirror which reflects and recollimates the laser beam. The gain medium amplifies and shapes the laser beam as the laser beam passes therethough. The third mirror reflects the laser beam, reflected from the second curved mirror, so that the laser beam bypasses the gain medium and return to the first curved mirror, thereby completing a cycle of a ring traversed by the laser beam. The mask defines at least one beam-clipping aperture through which the laser beam passes during a cycle. The gain medium is pumped, preferably using a suitable pumping laser. The laser amplifier can be used to increase the energy of continuous-wave or, especially, pulsed laser beams including pulses of femtosecond duration and relatively high pulse rate.

High input impedance amplifiers are provided which reduce the input impedance solely to a capacitive reactance, or, in a somewhat more complex design, provide an extremely high essentially infinite, capacitive reactance. In one embodiment, where the input impedance is reduced in essence, to solely a capacitive reactance, an operational amplifier in a follower configuration is driven at its non-inverting input and a resistor with a predetermined magnitude is connected between the inverting and non-inverting inputs. A second embodiment eliminates the capacitance from the input by adding a second stage to the first embodiment. The second stage is a second operational amplifier in a non-inverting gain-stage configuration where the output of the first follower stage drives the non-inverting input of the second stage and the output of the second stage is fed back to the non-inverting input of the first stage through a capacitor of a predetermined magnitude. These amplifiers, while generally useful, are very useful as sensor buffer amplifiers that may eliminate significant sources of error.

Laboratory experiments utilizing different near-infrared (NIR) sensitive imaging techniques for LADAR range gated imaging at eye-safe wavelengths are presented. An OPO/OPA configuration incorporating a nonlinear crystal for wavelength conversion of 1.56 micron probe or broadcast laser light to 807 nm light by utilizing a second pump laser at 532 nm for gating and gain, was evaluated for sensitivity, resolution, and general image quality. These data are presented with similar test results obtained from an image intensifier based upon a transferred electron (TE) photocathode with high quantum efficiency (QE) in the 1-2 micron range, with a P-20 phosphor output screen. Data presented include range-gated imaging performance in a cloud chamber with varying optical attenuation of laser reflectance images.

The use of distributed amplifiers may have some potential advantages for the transmission of quantum information through optical fibers. In addition to the quantum noise introduced by the amplifiers, entanglement between atoms in the amplifying media and the optical field corresponds to which-path information that can further reduce the coherence. Here we analyze the effects of decoherence in a phase-insensitive distributed amplifier by using perturbation theory to calculate the state of the entire system including the atomic media. For an initial coherent state, tracing over the atomic states allows the reduced density matrix of the field to be expressed as a mixture of squeezed states with a reduced spread in photon number and an increased phase uncertainty. The amplifier noise and decoherence can be interpreted as being due to entanglement with the environment rather than the amplification of vacuum fluctuation noise.